Boxed and Locked
by SolarLunar
Summary: The one fear he feared to face. And now he was caught in a situation where he had to and had to reveal it. He just hoped the air won't get sucked out the room this time. And a dinosaur won't eat him. And Matt won't mock him too much.
1. Chapter 1: Escaping Dinosaurs

**Hello. I've finally got back and settled upon an idea for a new story. Hopefully the wait will be worth it. This one is not set in the 'Big Boots'-verse and is actually set after Series 4 Episode 4; it does require knowledge of the series up to that point. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Isn't that strange?**

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><p><strong>Boxed and Locked<strong>

One more time and he would be free. The prison's door had been weakened when her back had been turned, his friend taking the opportunity to chew at a couple of the bars. He scuttled back and launched himself at the cage door, crashing against it with a clang.

OK, maybe one more time.

The second attempt was successful and the door banged free. He explored his new found freedom, stretching in the space available. He'd spent far too much time in that cage recently, through no fault of his own.

But now, no more.

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><p>"...And as you can see, we've got motion sensors in the ventilation pipes." Lester turned back to the bored looking Phillip who just managed to glance back up from staring at his watch before the civil servant saw. "Happy now? No more suffocation."<p>

"Absolutely splendid. No doubt Captain Becker will be testing the full system 'til it breaks and we have to come up with a new one."

Lester sighed and started walking back to his office, Phillip in tow. "If you had let him do his checks before, he would have noticed the design flaw that your system had," he muttered.

"I heard that."

"I saw you gazing at your watch as if it would suddenly reveal the secrets of the Universe while I was trying to explain what Connor had changed. Oh, talking of Connor, has he given you the new password code yet?" Phillip looked up in surprised. "I take that as a 'no' then. I persuaded him it was a good idea to have a couple more people with the ability to override the system, especially considering the... 'drop-out' rate we have. We can't always rely on him having an epiphany about his childhood fantasies all the time."

Phillip nodded thoughtfully and stopped, extending his hand to Lester. "I must be going. Thank you for this... special tour."

"The pleasure was all yours, I assure you," replied Lester sarcastically, shaking the proffered hand. "You had to know. Never promised it to be interesting."

"I understand. Goodbye." Burton walked off in the direction the pair had come from and Lester watched him leave, before turning back to his route to his office, where he hoped a strong coffee was waiting for him. Why did an anomaly have to appear over the window that Phillip had set aside to view the security?

Just as he reached his office, Lester collided with someone rushing past, causing him to inelegantly fall to the floor.

"Sorry," came an oh-so-familiar Irish voice and the sound of a metal container being put down. Lester darted a sharp look up at Matt, who stretch out a hand with which to pull Lester up easily. Lester brushed his suit down, scowling at the patches of dust and dirt that now speckled the previously pristine black cloth.

"First, I have to do your job with Phillip, now it seems you wish me to break my leg. What's in that thing anyway?" Matt looked down at the metal container, which looked suspiciously like a large pet cage, and then back up with a childish grin on his face. "Oh no, not another pet for Abby to adopt. We only just survive Rex as it is. If Phillip finds out, he'll have that thing under 24-hour armed guard, if not simply pinned to his wall where he can keep an eye on it."

Matt sighed and picked up the cage. A squawk suddenly came from deep within and there was the unmistakeable sound of something shuffling around within the box, banging against the sides in frustration. Lester inwardly groaned and stared at Matt pleadingly.

"It's a Juravenator. His name's Jerry." Lester raised his eyebrows. "Don't ask. A juvenile, but he hasn't got much more growing to." Lester got down to view the creature more carefully. "Watch it! He's not Rex."

"Oh joy! Another one requiring a note to the butcher." Lester frowned, straightened up again and looked at Matt. "By the way, where's Abby? Because I think we might need her..."

Matt followed his gaze which led to a certain small reptile sitting watching the two men intensively.

Chirp.

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><p>The doctor snipped the bandage and pinned it in place. He'd already explained that it wasn't strictly necessary, but a precaution in case she had to tend to any dinosaurs who might infected the small cut during the next week – there was the subtle undertone of 'we know you're going to ignore the orders to not touch them' in his voice.<p>

Abby smiled as Connor entered the room, his hair pointing out at different angles and his cheeks slightly flushed red in embarrassment.

"Sorry I..." he started, but Abby soon interrupted him.

"Sorry what? That you can't see round corners?" She let out a light-hearted laugh. "It's fine. Just a small cut and a lot of fuss." She shooed the doctor away, who quickly exited. "See. He didn't protest, so I must be in optimum health. Come here."

Connor drew nearer to his girlfriend and kissed her gently on the head. He then checked over his shoulder to make sure that no-one was listening, then turned back and spoke in hushed tone.

"Ready to go?" Abby frowned; it was unlike Connor to want her to leave if anything could possibly be considered to be wrong with her unless...

Unless...

"What's happened to Rex?" Connor's blush intensified. "Connor..." Abby grabbed her boyfriend's arm tightly and stared him right in the eye, searching for an emotion to give her a clue of what was going on.

"You remember you said to go and check on the creatures, and set up a place for the new arrival to be kept until you came back." Abby nodded. "Well, it kinda... involved opening the door to your lab." Abby eyes widened as the truth became apparent. "Come on, it was your fault really." Abby frowned in disbelief at her boyfriend's claim. "You shouldn't have let him roam the lab free while you weren't there, especially after Burton had just b..."

"Connor," interrupted Abby and Connor immediately stopped talking, studying Abby's confused face as it frowned in puzzlement into the mid-distance. After a few moments, she suddenly came to, as she just remembered that Connor was still standing there. She took a breath before she explained. "I didn't let him out."

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><p>Becker landed heavily on the ground and winced as his entire weight was pressed onto his hand, which got caught under him. He rolled to one side as he gripped the blanket tightly before realising that it still contained nothing. He looked up and saw Rex fluttering above him, having escaped his clutches.<p>

Again.

Becker was all for active fun and games, but this was becoming repetitive.

Rex suddenly wheeled around mid-air and dive bombed into the Captain. Another blanket went flying through the air, closely followed by Matt, who landed with a thump on the other side of Becker.

Becker scrambled to his feet and whipped round, trying to spot the creature. Instead, he spotted Lester, who was standing with his arms folded, observing the scene, with Jess just staring on, biting her lip as she tried not to laugh.

"And you are sure you don't need Abby?" Lester questioned him. Becker bit back a retort, only to be pushed forward by Rex, who collided with his head. Becker reached out with a hand, but narrowly missed with flying reptile, instead, spinning on the clean floor and losing his balance.

Matt grabbed his arm before he fell and hoisted Becker into a stable position.

"We need a better plan," Becker conceded.

Matt nodded. "Yep. What about... I get Abby?"

"Absolutely," agreed Becker, breathing out heavily. He noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. "I'll keep an eye on him." He gestured towards Rex, who was currently making himself at home on top of the cabinet lab coats were kept in.

"Well, now that's sorted, I'll get my coat and leave you to it. Oh, and please remind Matt to take that... thing down to the menagerie before he goes."

"You not staying to watch?" asked Jess, grinning at Becker in such a way that made him want to leave her with Rex and see how she liked it.

"No. I have to go and have dinner with some dignitaries and I suggest you leave before you get too embroiled in it all too much. Have fun, Captain!" he exclaimed, his tone making it clear he _knew_ how much Becker would have. The civil servant closed the door quickly as he left, Jess following, giggling.

Becker resolution was hardened at the slight and he angrily grabbed up the blanket to approach Rex. He slowly crept towards the creature, who was preening himself on his perch and held out the blanket at arm reach, ready to grab. He took a step closer, then one more and one more...

Rex squawked as he realised what was happening and lifted off. Becker lunged and caught the tail, swinging Rex around and off course, but the Captain was so off balance by that stage that his foot squeaked across and Becker slipped over, his head bouncing gently off the metal cabinet. Rex wriggled free just in time to avoid being taken down as well.

Becker groaned and sat there for a few moments recovering his senses. Glancing up, he noticed Rex was performing his favourite occupation, flying around in circles.

Using the cabinet as support, Becker heaved himself upwards and just watched, to do anything to the creature that was well outside his reach.

"Rex!" came the voice of an angel, disguised as Abby. "Rex, come down. I've brought food." Becker observed Rex take one more lap around the ceiling, before gliding down, straight into Abby's open arms.

Becker pulled a face in irritation at the control Abby had which he didn't. At risk of sounding incredibly childish, it wasn't fair. Matt clapped a friendly hand down on his shoulder and grimaced.

"I know, mate. I'll never understand it either." The pair of men stood back for a minute as they viewed the scientist and the zoologist coo over the small little trouble-maker. After a while, Matt cleared his throat pointedly and Abby looked up, bashfully.

"I'll... take him down and get him a new cage. I probably didn't like being cooped up for so long on Burton's orders."

"We'll put him in a stronger cage," reassured Connor. "I think Sid 'got' at the last one." He smiled before taking Abby's arm and leading her down the corridor to the menagerie, ready to put the creatures to bed for the night.

"Right, so we need stronger cages..."

All of sudden, red lights started flashing. Jess' voices, or at least an automatic voice she'd recorded, blared out.

'Lockdown initiated. Non-conforming life form detected. Lockdown initiated. Non-conforming life form detected.' Her voice continued, for once to the annoyance of Becker. The door down the corridor that Abby and Connor had disappeared slammed shut, and there was a clicking sound as the impenetrable locks activated. Becker pulled at the handle, but it was futile. The metal blinds came down and the two men had to stand back helplessly as they were shut in.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" shouted Becker over the din of all the alarms. Matt shrugged, then visibly went a few shades paler. Dashing across the foyer area, he picked up the cage that Jerry had been in.

'_Had' _being the significant word. Matt swung the box around and sighed. He twisted it to display the back; it had a large rugged hole in it.

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><p><strong>IntriguedBored/? Please review! **


	2. Chapter 2: Phone calls

**Hello. So, a lot of planning and substance in this chapter, I feel. But also, a worried Becker. Dun dun duuunnn ;-) (always wanted to do that). And I can only apologise for the Jess-Lester comment halfway through, but I couldn't resist in such a context. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. And it doesn't own me. Much.**

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><p>Becker gulped and stared at the hole and slowly the cacophony of sounds died away as the lights dimmed and the power was cut, leaving only the glow from emergency lighting systems, which worked on their own power generator. Matt, ignoring Becker's lack of action, hitched up the box to study the hole more carefully. He frowned and picked up the round-ish piece of plastic which had been displaced, mulling over the marks of weakened cheap plastic.<p>

"We definitely need to get better cages," groaned Becker, running his hand through his hair in frustration and worry. "Who's idea was it that a normal animal cage, designed to withstand, at worst, a ferocious kitten, would be good enough to hold back a dinosaur!" Matt looked up sharply at the Captain and raised his eyebrows to say 'Really? You need to ask?' Becker groaned. "I know Abby claimed the small ones couldn't possibly get through the plastic; for someone who has lived in the Cretaceous, she can sometimes be very naive."

"It was policy before she went and, to be fair, it's never failed before. Come on." Matt placed the cage back down exactly where it had been and squatted down, peering in the direction that the circle had fallen. He followed the path, shuffling along and noting any scratches on the floor.

He eventually came up against a small grill, normally there to allow a plumber access at the pipes stop-cock which was positioned there. It was silent now, the gas and water supplies cut to all parts of the building, the reasoning being that nobody wanted a soap style explosion on top of the lock-down.

"We need to get out of here and so we need to catch that dinosaur again. Any attempts to release the lockdown will be futile until it's been caught or, at east, we have it under control."

"What about Connor's trapdoor?"

"That one was removed and Connor's the only one who knows the new codes."

"WHAT?"

"There was going to be a presentation tomorrow when he released all the information needed. Hasn't anyone told you about that yet?" Becker shook his head and sighed. He was feeling incredibly useless, his time off work for his leg leading to him being desperately behind all the news of what had been happening in the very area he was supposed to be an expert in – security.

It was at times like this he particularly missed Danny. Sure, conversations about the man abseiling down the ventilation shaft...

The ventilation shaft. Becker tries to dismiss the idea as soon as it appeared in his head as something from a bad film. Or Connor. The idea, however, was having none of it, getting lodged in his mind.

And now Becker would have to be the one who has to suggest it – the idea he detested the most. Sometimes he hated being so practical and dedicated to his job. Becker opened his mouth to voice this laughable idea...

"We'll have to use the vent shaft, I think," Matt said. Becker expertly (in his mind) styled out of the 'mouth hanging open to speak' pose just as Matt looked around at him from studying the hole. "We need proper equipment from the menagerie first." Becker nodded "Abby and Connor should be there; maybe we can meet them halfway."

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><p>"Connor!" groaned Abby, clutching on to her precious pet and staring, annoyed, at her boyfriend.<p>

"What?"

"What have you done?"

"I haven't done anything." Abby gave a sideways look at him. "I'm serious. I was walking right behind you." Abby sighed, but believed the reproachful look her boyfriend was giving her; he wasn't always stupid after all. Rex chirped and tried to climb over her shoulder, but she held on.

Abby gestured with her head that they should continue to see what sort of stretch of corridor they were stuck in. Connor followed, darting his eyes around to check if there were any hidden dangers that had triggered the alarm. He was so preoccupied that he didn't' see Abby stop ad walked straight into the back of her.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, more out of surprise than annoyance, but Abby ignored him and twisted around to face him.

"You said that Rex wouldn't cause any of this. And what's more he was out for ages before there was a problem."

"No. I programmed in his DNA pattern and life signs into the system. He's effectively a member of staff in that sense, with clearance to go anywhere he pleases." Connor paused. "Don't tell Phillip I've done that. I'm not sure that I'm meant to have done so, especially as he _really _doesn't like him and said that if he ever saw him again he would..."

"Connor! Concentrate! And think. If it's not Rex that's set off the alarms, then what has? I mean, could we possibly be facing another dinosaur on the loose. Maybe the Mammoth. Or anything!"

Connor did think for a few seconds, before the clear, honest truth dawned upon him. No matter how intelligent Abby feels her 'pets' are, none of them could get out the menagerie without the codes; Rex just happened to be in a less secure area than all the rest. Meaning there was only one creature that could have caused the upset.

"The new dinosaur. The one we just caught. I don't think Becker or Matt had time to get it to the menagerie."

"But that's been in the ARC for about half an hour. Why would it only just set off the alarms?"

"Because up until this point it was within ten foot of an authorised member of staff. It was a new feature so we could get the creatures in without disabling the security every time. It's all in my presentation."

"You mean the one you were going to give tomorrow. Oh, this is hopeless. I bet you can't disable the lockdown."

"From here?" scoffed Connor. "Now why would I make it easy for myself?"

"Yeah, why would you?" groaned Abby, sarcastically. Connor huffed and Abby sensed he was getting irritated at the incessant criticism his work was receiving at this particular moment in time. Sure enough, a defence was quickly forth-coming.

"It's meant to prevent against attacks from humans too. So people can't just wander in here."

"But now we can't _wander _out!" There was an awkward silence as the pair faced away from each other, then Abby started to walk again.

"I'm sorry," cried Connor after her, stopping her in her tracks.

She sighed and turned. "Me too. It's not your fault."

The couple smiled tentatively at each other and walked on as a pair (or trio counting Rex). Eventually, they rounded the corner and came up against their real boundary. A fire-door, normally simply made of wood, but now with the tell-tale steel curtain down over, displaying the security procedure.

"Now what?" asked Abby.

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><p>The soup had just arrived, the hubbub of sound dying down briefly as the waiters and waitresses came around, then returning to its original height.<p>

"So, you see, business connections are vital in the modern Government's... shall we say, stranger projects. Without them, the full potential of them cannot fully be realised, for both..."

"Mr Lester?" A suited waiter interrupted the conversation, causing the three men to look around at the embarrassed young man. "Erm... there's a message for you, sir. An urgent one from a Miss Jessica Parker. She was... very insistent, sir."

"I bet she was," muttered Lester under his breath. He dabbed his mouth with a napkin and stood up. "Do excuse me, gentlemen. Miss Parker is not someone to ignore lightly in our work-place." The waiter stood back to allow the civil servant out. The two men watched him leave with interest then turned back to one another.

"Mistress?"

"It would seem so."

Lester exited the room and was led towards a telephone which had the receiver lying down next to the main hub. He marched over to it and picked it, only to grimace at the tone of voice that was being used on him.

"_Where have you been? Why hasn't your phone been on? I've been trying to reach you for quarter of an hour. All I got was your bloody answer-phone!"_

"Jess, what on Earth is going on? You've just taken me away from a couple of men who could sponsor that biological project Matt has been worrying about. This had better be good. And not Connor."

"_The ARC has gone into lockdown."_

"WHAT? Why didn't you say earlier?"

"_You have nine messages on your mobile!"_ Lester took a deep breath in, trying to calm his nerves.

"Look, what has happened?"

"_The ARC has gone into lockdown,"_ Jess repeated patiently.

"I gathered that," replied Lester, wearily. "Any other information you've managed to discover while you've been waiting to contact me?"

"_It's a Code 2, according to the outside monitor. That's a loose dinosaur. What shall we do?"_

"Who's 'we'?"

"_There's me, Jimmy from tech support, 'cos I had to call him to sort out the monitor when it went bananas, Private Simons, who was on perimeter patrol, and Emily, who I called in case she started to worry about where Matt was. I haven't told Burton yet. I wanted to know whether I should."_

"Not yet, please. The last thing we need is him raving about how the dinosaurs are a nuisance that should all be put down. It was hard enough to stop him doing that last time. Look, wait there until I come and review the situation. In the meantime, try and establish contact with the people stuck inside. Who is stuck, by the way?"

"_Matt, Abby, Connor and Becker."_

"Now, how could I have guessed it was going to be those four?"

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><p>Bang! Becker grimaced as pain shot up his arm when the full weight of the cabinet which held the lab coats suddenly shifted onto him. Anyone would think they were worried about the coats being shot; certainly, the cabinet seemed to be bullet-proof.<p>

"Sorry!" exclaimed Matt. "It slipped." Becker grunted and heaved the cabinet down onto the floor. Gazing up, he calculated that it was now in position, underneath the vent grill. A quick glance at Matt confirmed that the other man had thought the same thing.

Becker pulled out his trusty Swiss Army knife and opened the screwdriver attachment, then stared up at the grill. Matt impatiently took the tool out of his hands and clambered up onto the cabinet to reach to the screws which held the grill in place.

Part of Becker's brain was hoping that Matt would be quick in order for them to escape and be able to do something more helpful than just getting out. The rest of his brain hoped the screwdriver wouldn't fit, so they could stay down here and out of the ventilation shafts for as long as possible, maybe even until they could be rescued. But that was cowardice, so with a heavy heart, Becker smiled when Matt easily started to turned the screws.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Becker fumbled through his pockets and Matt looked down in surprise at the ringing mobile that the Captain pulled out. Becker frowned and checked up at Matt, who looked mystified, before opening the phone. Connor's name was presented in simple white print. Becker pressed the green button.

"Connor? How can you be phoning me? I thought the mobile network was blocked when there was a lockdown unless you're in the ADD room. You're not there, are you?"

"_What? No, no, no," _came a gritty response. "_I programmed it so that certain numbers would still be able to call. At the moment though, that's only there's only my number in the system."_

"So you can call me, but I can't call you."

"_That's right. We were wondering if you had heard any strange noises. Only a dinosaur must've escaped."_

"We know. It was the new one. Look, Connor, we need to get equipment from the menagerie. Can you get in there? We're going to be travelling through the vent shafts."

"_We can try. We're right outside. I'll phone you as soon as we get in." _And with that, the droning beep as the call ended flooded Becker's ears.

Until the ventilation shaft grill came crashing down.

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><p><strong>Please leave a message after pressing the button below =-) .<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: Climbing upwards

**Hello again. This chapter got away from me a bit, so it's a little longer; I kept having to add important details, but desperately wanted to end it where I did. Next chapter is also partly written, so hopefully, that'll be up soon.**

**Dedicated to RextheCoeulurosauruvus, for providing me with lots of prehistoric facts, including many about our favourite Coeulurosauruvus. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval or a Coeulurosauruvus. You can probably guess why.**

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><p>Three rooms down, there was a faint bump. This grew into a larger bump, followed by a loud crack. Plaster went flying out and a distinct craggy line appeared in the wall. One more bump and a significantly sized hole formed, through which a beady black eye peered out into the gloom of a Prospero testing lab. A growl echoed through the empty area, resonating with a couple of gas taps. The eye disappeared and there was some quiet scrabbling.<p>

Suddenly, the hole became a new, rough doorway for the Juravenator, who landed sprawling across the floor, narrowly missing a workbench. It tottered to its feet for a second, before collapsing again, lying there while some red liquid trickled from its hind leg. It let out a mewing sound, filling the lab with pathetic whimpers.

After all, it couldn't know it had caused all the problems?

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><p>"Whose idea was it to make the ceiling so higher here?" pondered Matt, sighing as he looked at the hole he'd created. He could only just reach it when unscrewing it and now he had to get up there. Why did they have to get trapped in the foyer, rather than the lower corridors of the main block?<p>

"You should up first," stated Becker. Matt looked around at him strangely. "We can't stand on the cabinet and boost either of us up; it's a recipe for disaster and broken arms. So, as I'm taller, you'll need me be able to give you the extra push once you're up. Furthermore, I'll be able to reach higher when I'm trying to pull myself up."

"That argument is completely nonsensical!" exclaimed Matt. Becker looked at him, frowning. "You have one inch on me, which, if you must, you can use to reach without the cabinet." Becker looked away, licking his lips, causing Matt to imitate the Captain's previous expression; typically Becker only did the tiny tick when he was nervous and, as far as Matt could tell, there was no immediate danger, the problem being the dinosaur _wasn't _close by.

"It's just a better idea for you to go up first," insisted Becker, rather too agitatedly for Matt's liking. Matt raised his eyebrows, and Becker slowly blinked to calm himself. "Sorry. I'm just tense... about... where the dinosaur as gone. Besides, you are right, there's not much in it, so it'll make no difference."

Matt nodded, not quite satisfied, but willing to let the problem slide for now. He went to stand under the hole, while Becker positioned himself in front of the leader, cupping his hands. Matt placed his foot in the home-made handhold and put his hands on Becker's shoulders.

"On three. One... two... _three!_" Matt surged himself upwards, propelling himself upwards. He reached for the hole's edge, but felt he was going to miss it, until, out of the blue, Matt suddenly gained an extra foot and a half in height, allowing him the grasp it with both hands.

Below him, Becker was standing with both his arms like a weight lifter, with Matt on top, having boosted him up a little further. Matt pulled himself forward over the edge and Becker gave a last little push for him to get in properly.

Matt caught his breath, then leaned over the edge.

"Right. Now your turn."

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><p>"Ok, so we can't contact then or lift the lockdown externally. Well, it seems all we can do is stand around and have a committee meeting."<p>

"What will _that_ do?"

"It's a committee meeting. It'll achieve absolutely nothing like always, Jess." The field co-ordinator sighed and went back to the external monitor, housed in a compartment below the guard house. She was regretting phoning her boss, who, so far, had just made unhelpful, sarcastic remarks. Mind you, what was she expecting from him? That he would turn up, open all the doors magically and single-handedly march in and wrestle the dinosaur into submission. Now there was an image...

A beeping, followed by some swearing, drew Jess out her thoughts. Jimmy smacked his laptop, which he had linked into the interface, on the side in a move that many a person had done whilst using a computer.

"No luck?" asked Jess, trying to sound positive, yet realistic. It was a hard tone to manage.

Jim shook his head. "I was trying a squirrel attack, but, annoying as he can be, Connor is genius; it's sent a back-pulse virus which has cut my connection and scrubbed my programming. Bet my IP address has gone off to the ADD as well."

Jess smiled and nodded as if she'd understood every word he'd said; she could manage computers and even minor problems, but hacking was a world beyond her. The gist was clear though. They couldn't hack the system; Connor knew every trick in the book and had employed this knowledge well, setting up firewalls and traps at every turn.

"Well, Simons, it seems we can't rely on trickery and underhand techniques to get in. How is the brute force plan going?" said Lester, turning to the soldier who had just hung up his mobile, looking grim.

"I've managed to source a diamond tipped chainsaw. It's the only think which will get through those doors, but it'll take an hour and a half minimum to get here. Also, got the night duty soldiers to come in, but we have no weapons – we have to guard any entrance hole in case the dino uses it as an exit."

"Indeed. Don't worry. I'm sure that just as we sort everything out, they'll lift the lockdown from inside," replied Lester, staring at the monitor. So far, none of his internal pleas had stopped it showing in grim red letters 'WARNING: CODE 2 LOCKDOWN'.

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><p>Matt reached down and caught Becker's wrist. The Captain's hand grasped back. He bounced two times and, on the third, Becker leapt into the air with as much power as his thighs would give him. Matt grunted as he tried to haul the other man up, but the Captain swung back, his arm skorting along the thin edge of the gap.<p>

A yell came out from below and Becker's hand loosened its grip. Matt jerked forward and slammed his other hand down to prevent him from being pulled down and through from his elevated position. Pressing down, Matt managed to slow his partners descent so Becker was able the land safely back onto the cabinet, where he grasped his arm to his chest and bit his lip in trying not the scream out expletives in pain.

"You alright?" Matt called down in genuine concern. There was a silence as Becker examined his arm. The skin was broken, an angry slit going across, but it wasn't deep, certainly not life-threatening. After a few more seconds, Becker confirmed in his mind that it wasn't even bleeding.

It just stung like anything. For a moment, Becker was taken back to the parlour in the school kitchen when Matt added salt to his wound. Ok, this was milder, but it was the same kind of hurt.

He gazed back up to Matt. "Yeah I'm good. Just maybe try... I dunno... lay your jacket over that edge." Matt made an attempt at a grin before pulling off his out-door jacket, which he'd been wearing since they went out earlier that afternoon, and laid it over the edge.

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><p>"Remind me again, why would I have a Swiss Army knife on me exactly?" Connor bit back a response to his girlfriend's angry question. He could tell that was rhetorical. Instead, he returned to the grill above his head and pondered over the six screws which were barring their entry into the shafts that led in the rough direction of the menagerie. "Hurry up. Rex is getting restless."<p>

"Well, maybe find a box to put him in." There was an icy pause, causing Connor to wriggle in discomfort before he turned around to the petite blond giving him a severe glare. "Abby, think realistically. We've got to crawl through to the menagerie, _then_ to meet up with Mat and Becker, _then _help them catch the Juravenator again and _then_ through to the ADD to lift the lockdown. You're going to do that all whilst carrying Rex in one hand?"

Rex chirped and started muzzling Abby under her chin; it was as if the little trouble maker knew what Connor was saying and decided to purposely make the situation awkward. Indeed, Abby's eyes narrowed.

"I can't just leave him."

"And you can't take him with you!"

"You sound like Burton!"

"At what point am I saying 'kill Rex'?" cried Connor. Rex suddenly let out a pained squawk and nestled closer to Abby who promptly switch her attention to the bundle she held.

"Just open the grill, Connor," she said bitterly, turning her back upon her boyfriend. Connor closed his eyes momentarily to calm himself, before tugging out his set of house keys in an attempt to open the grill while his girlfriend fussed over a reptile.

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><p>A light blinked in the corner of the screen. Footsteps approached the desk where the computer sat and there was a creaking from the office chair as a man sat down heavily.<p>

Burton observed the blinking light for a few seconds before taking a deep breath in and reaching forward to pick up his phone. The screen revealed its normal default menu screen. No messages. Burton bit his lip and chucked his phone down gently. As he pondered his next move.

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><p>"Right. So now all we have to do is wait?"<p>

"Yep," replied Jess absently as she picked a piece of dirt off her bright green cardigan – her favourite. Lester clasped his hands behind his back and clicked his tongue a few times before Jess' look stopped him. "Why don't you go back to your party?"

"It was _not _a party. It was a business dinner. And besides, I can't go back. I declared it was a top priority emergency. How do you think I'd look if I returned within an hour? Shows either we don't have _proper_ emergencies or I'm not needed for them and am therefore a useless component to operations."

"You're not needed for them," Jimmy put in as he played around with his settings on his computer. Jess tried, and failed, to stifle a giggle. Lester just harrumphed.

"We definitely need to get them out. We need some actual geniuses out here."

* * *

><p>"Ok, are you ready to try again?" asked Matt through the hole.<p>

"Just about. I just need to... ah!... I just need to see if I can get my foot in this crack...here," grunted Becker, as he climbed back up onto the cabinet carefully. Once he was sure he was stable, he reached up again to Matt, who leaned down. From his slightly elevated height, Becker was just about able to clasp his hand around Matt's arm with the leader able to do likewise. Both men used all their strength to attempt to get Becker up.

Becker felt his feet leave the solid surface momentarily and tried to stretch out to the hole's edge. In doing so, he was once more sent swinging to one side, but this time the jacket cushioned the blow so the cut before reacted to the bump, but there was no big searing pain as before and Becker clung on.

Matt grunted with effort as he swung Becker back out and tried to haul the Captain up. Becker felt himself be winched up a little further and once more extended a hand for the edge. Matt wasn't ready though, and the hand keeping him stable slipped. Becker jolted down, still above the solid cabinet below, but Matt, by instinct, slammed his hand back down.

Unfortunately, his palm met with his jacket, which slid uselessly off. Due to the shock of the movement, Matt momentarily let his hand relax its hold on Becker who, at the same moment, was suddenly blinded by Matt's jacket. The lack of strength from both parties strained the link between the pair until something had to give.

In the end it was the physical connection and Becker was left plunging to the ground about four foot below; a short, but sharp, fall. Matt felt the pressure release from his arms so quickly that he was unable to even lean further forward to catch the falling Captain. Instead, he was left, grasping at the air which failed to break Becker's fall and listening to the slump of a body upon the ground. Peering over the edge, his eyes widened as he stared at the sight of his friend lying motionless on the floor, his body at an awkward angle from where he had bounced off the metal cabinet below.

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><p><strong>Please comment. Especially on my use of cliff-hanger. ;-)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4: Rising up in the World

**Hello again! So, I've managed to get back a little quicker, mainly because when I write cliff-hangers, I don't like leaving them dangling too long. So, without further ado, Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. You may have noticed...**

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><p>The screw started to twist around more freely as it finally gave way to Connor's coaxing. The young scientist added a few more turns using the end of his key, before reaching up and loosening the rest of it with his fingers. Abby stood by his side, making sure the grill wasn't hanging on the single screw.<p>

Rex was gently tied up in Connor's jacket, chirping in protest at his imprisonment and fidgeting around in a way that meant Connor knew he needed to go shopping afterwards, particularly of the weather was meant to go down cold again as the forecast said. No matter how cold and in spite of their stay in the Cretaceous, Connor had always managed to avoid the stuff that comes out of the creatures they met and he was determined not to start now. It had been the only way to get Abby to help, though, through the use of the argument 'imagine how much more scared he'd be if this thing came crashing down'.

As it was, Abby was only just tall enough to reach the grill with her fingertips and that was only because they'd managed to get a bucket by break down the door into a storage cupboard which didn't have a security barrier; no-one had ever insisted that the mops and brooms had to be guarded against perpetrators. Still, it was enough for Connor not to worry about it crashing down on his head.

What did come 'crashing down on his head' was the screw as it pinged out of his fingers, just as it came out. It bounced off his forehead into an obscure corner, but neither paid any attention. Instead, Abby pushed the grill upwards so it wouldn't fall until Connor got his firmer grip onto it and lowered it gently to the ground.

"Right. So, now all we have to do is get up there," stated Abby. She breathed out as she pondered the problem and Connor moved his arms to try to induce the blood flow back into them. "Ok," she said, eventually. "You go up, I'll pass up Rex, then… you think you can lift me up?"

"How much do you weigh?" grinned Connor, cheekily. Abby took that as a yes and went to gather up rex.

"At least, it's not as high as the ones in the foyers. I wonder how Matt and Becker are getting on," mused Connor, as he positioned the bin to allow himself the best possible chance of getting up unaided.

"Well, you can phone them once we get to the menagerie. There's no point in wasting your battery; knowing you, there's not a lot left by this time of the day."

Connor placed both hands in the vent and started to rhythmically bounce until he felt he had enough momentum to pull himself up. In one heave, he shifted his entire body upwards and leaned forward, attempting to move his centre of mass beyond the edge. Abby guided his foot to one corner, allowing him an extra boost of force which allowed him to clamber up fully. Abby ducked as his other foot swung around unexpectedly before Connor turned.

"Connor!"

"I don't have eyes in the back of my head, you know." Abby just rolled her eyes and shifted the bucket across.

Standing up in it, and with Connor leaning over, she was able to carefully hand over the C-, still wrapped in his bundle like a baby. Connor, equally gently, grabbed him firmly and placed him at the edge, where Rex comically peeped over.

"You can't leave him there!" exclaimed Abby. "He'll get knocked or or wriggle over the edge!" Connor sighed patiently and gently picked up the reptile to move it out of sight. A couple of seconds, he let out a cry of shock and pain.

"WHAT IS IT? WHAT'S HAPPENED?" Connor peered down at her, a teeth gritted in annoyance.

"He bit me," he groused.

"Serves you right for all the comments you have been making about him. I think Burton's influence on you is showing."

"Or maybe, I've had a very long day and am now stuck in a ventilation shaft, in a lockdown with a dinosaur wandering about," grumbled Connor quietly. He lay down flat and reached down as far as he could. "Come on. We've got to go."

Abby breathed out sharply as she assessed the situation, before deciding that it was best to keep it simple. She placed her foot firmly on the up-turned bucket and used the power from her back leg to hoist herself upwards. Catching hold of Connor's arm, she was able to pull herself up, knocking the bucket over as her other raised foot left the surface. For a moment, she floundered in the air, before Connor heaved her upwards and tugged her forward.

Once up, she was able to catch her breath for a minute as she and Connor took a moment to reflect. She looked down the dim passageway and could vaguely make out a shape of a turning ahead.

"We need to go left, I think," she whispered. "Do you think we should phone Matt and Becker?"

"Nah, we'll just slow them down. Let's face it, if anyone's Ok, it's likely to be them. We best get moving."

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><p>Matt grunted with strain as he lowered himself to the ground. The last bit, he had to jump and he couldn't help feeling regret that the effort of getting up would have to be repeated, but Becker had not responded to his concerned cries and, more worryingly, he still wasn't breathing. There was no way he could assess any injuries from the ceiling, Becker's angle obscuring his face.<p>

He knelt down and noted that the Captain was, as suspected, out cold. Matt checked around and muttered a curse that there was medical kit within this section of the ARC. Generally, there was one within fifty places wherever you were here, but this being the admin section, there had been a general agreement that the worst thing that could happen here was a paper cut.

Why did people have to listen to common sense?

At a bit of a loss as to what to do, Matt reverted to an age old technique which normally worked, He started to pat the cheeks of his friend and called his name softly. After a couple fo mintues of this, Matt was about to give up when something reached his ears.

Matt studied the Captain's face, a tiny frown line creasing the space between his eyebrows. He patted his friend's cheek once more and this time he was certain; Becker had groaned.

Sure enough, his eyelids fluttered open and Becker's hand raised itself to his face and pressed against his face, a quirk he always done when in extreme pain. He blinked a couple of times, then groaned again.

"You alright, mate?" asked Matt gently. Becker blinked a couple more times and loked up at the leader, squinting despite the lack of bright light. He surveyed the hole above him and his general surroundings and slowly recollected the exact circumstances of his predicament.

"I've just fallen about seven foot onto a solid metal box. Yep, I'm doing well," he whispered. Matt smiled in relief that Becker had seemed to regain his wits. However, he still wished to be on the safe side and held out three fingers. He was about to ask the conventional question, when he noticed Becker was glaring at him with a 'really?' look. "Three," the Captain said, as if he was speaking to an idiot.

He pulled himself to his feet, then swayed slightly as the blood went rushing down from his head. Matt caught him, but he brushed off further support and focussed upon the hole above.

"Before you say anything, you are going first," ordered Matt, and Becker could tell he wasn't being given the choice. Given the situation at hand, he decided not to create a scene (although, frankly, who was watching?) and simply comply with the instruction.

The lift was performed to perfection, a near mirror image of what Matt had done less than ten minutes earlier, the only difficulty being the cut on Becker's wrist suddenly screaming as he hauled himself onto the level platform; the skin, having formed a thin seal over the slit, now gaped open once more.

Instead of grimacing, Becker used the pain to concentrate on rather than looked around the tiny space he had climbed into. After a couple of seconds, Matt called up to his partner and Becker remembered that he still had to pull him up.

He lay down flat and lowered his good arm, which happened by chance to be his stronger. Matt shooked his head.

"Oh no. You lay your across that edge and then don't touch it. I want to get up in one go." Complying, with a sigh, Becker removed his black bomber jacket and dutifully laid it over the piercing edge, then resumed his previous position. Matt by this time had clambered up to the position that Becker had take five minutes before.

He didn't wait, as Becker was expecting, to catch hold of the hand which was just out of his reach. Instead, he leapt into the air, grabbing hold like a gymnast, and using his other failing hand to grab for the edge which hadn't been covered in the material. Sure enough, Matt caught it and was able to pull himself up with the momentum from the jump. As Becker hoisted him through the gap, Matt laughed, causing Becker to look at him sharply.

"Come on. A little adrenaline pumping," he laughed breathlessly. Becker shook his head and Matt frowned again, the smile dying on his lips. "You're sweating." Becker wiped his hand over his forehead and then stared at the wetness that had gathered there. The moment lasted only a second, but it was still long enough for Matt to be worried slightly for about the fifth time that day.

"It's just the heat. It's so hot in here," Becker commented lightly. Matt looked up and down the shaft. The lockdown had cut out the heating and there was a draft blowing through from somewhere, cooling against the icy metal that surrounded them. It was anything but warm, especially if Becker was sweating.

"Becker mate. Put your jacket back on," Matt suggested.

"How does that with being hot?" asked Becker quizzically.

"It won't, but... there's no need to leave it behind and it will be a nuisance to carry it. We might not pass back this way and the ARC is cooling down so in an hour you'll need it," Matt argued abck, trying to make it sound like he was forming a logical statement rather than nagging his oh-so capable friend.

Becker picked up on the undertone, but, again followed the order, pulling his jacket on. Matt smile comfortingly and set off in the direction they both knew was the menagerie.

Halfway down the first stretch, before they came to a junction, Becker, behind, stopped and shivered, but then put the horrible dark thoughts to the back of his mind. Now wasn't the time to be stupid.

* * *

><p>The dinosaur blinked, inadvertently imitating Becker from earlier, and tried to haul itself to its feet. It was feeling woozy and the pungent smell of... the closest it had ever smelt to this was down at a swamp it had once come across, when it was still new at foraging.<p>

Weaving around a little, it headed for the opposite wall, but found this was more solid than the one it had broken. The shock of this caused it to recoil and collide with a desk.

The chain reaction was something from a film. The desk moved a tall chair, which fell backwards.

Connor had a feeling that today was unlucky because of the lockdown, but that was just accidental really. What was really unlucky was the chair hitting the light switch, not hard enough to light the room, but just hard enough to cause a spark...

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><p><strong>Ok, so another sort of cliff-hanger. What can I say, I like them. ;-)<strong>

**Please leave a review – Thank you to everyone who has left one (and more) so far. xx**


	5. Chapter 5: The Hole in the ARC

**Yes, finally I return from a fairly long delay. I can only apologise; I was ill for a few days (it doesn't happen often, I promise), so ended up being a bit behind in a few things.**

**Anyway, I am now back, ready to pick up from our escaped dinosaur hitting a switch in a gas filled room (tension please). Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Maybe it'll be an Easter present... if there were such things as Easter presents.**

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><p>Abby breathed as sharply as she jolted down onto the menagerie floor. Straightening up, she glanced around, her eyes coming to rest upon a broken pet cage which should have contained Rex. The memory of her leaving that specific cage near Sid and Nancy earlier came back to her as she studied the particular gnawing pattern. She sighed the patient sigh of a mother and looked up at the creature that was being lowered down to her gently. Reaching out, she took hold of him, snuggling him closer to her chest and rubbing him between the ears.<p>

"What am I supposed to do with you, eh?" She gazed over to the door to the room Rex should, according to regulations, be kept in with the other herbivores. "Come on. Don't complain. I need two hands for you."

There was a thump behind her as Connor landed heavily having jumped from the ventilation shaft, which was suspended by metal girders below the ceiling. Having positioned his hat, he immediately got to work, drawing out the EMDs which were kept in the room in case of emergencies; this was, after all, where the creatures where kept and, therefore, the most dangerous part of the ARC. The architects of this place were such optimists, he thought. Mainly the problem arose when the creature _weren't _in here.

He also pulled out Matt's hoop and some tranquilisers and placed them on the desk by the EMDs. Looking at his pile, he noticed Abby was still cooing over her reptile.

"Erm... Abby?" he said, unsure about how to express himself without causing another argument for sounding like he didn't care about Rex. "Maybe we should be trying to..." The sentence trailed off as Abby set her hardened stare upon him. It lasted a few seconds before she sighed in defeat.

"You're right."

"I am?" The hardened look shut his mouth again. Abby pulled out her pass and typed in the code for the door. Rex squirmed a little, but relented as Abby released him into the cavernous space. Shutting the door behind her, Abby looked at Connor.

"What else do we need?" Connor studied his pile with a critical eye.

"Another cage. Preferably a stronger one, not made of plastic." Abby paused for a second in thought before the idea came to her. She pulled open a storage cupboard beneath one of the desks and rooted around, the odd clang indicating she was moving equipment around.

Thirty seconds later, her head popped up, a confused frown gracing her features. She mouthed a few words in thought, then jumped up suddenly and rushed over to a desk the other side of the lab. Yanking open the cupboard door, she pulled out a few metal bowls and a set of cutlery used to prepare food for her creatures. After, she reached in with both hands and tugged out a large steel cage, meshed with a solid plate on the bottom and a simple, study handle on the top.

"This was left over from the original labs at Lester's government offices, before the ARC was built. Should be large enough to put that lot..." she gestured at Connor's pile, "... in on the trip there and the dinosaur on the way back." Connor grinned and ran over to kiss his girlfriend on the head.

Before he got to her, though, the whole room shook, making Connor fall forward. He grabbed the side of the desk as the room rocked from side to side, just saving himself from cracking his head on the edge. There was some clattering as metal equipment fell to the floor.

Abby was launched back against the wall, grunting at the force which powered her back. She caught Connor's failing hand and pulled him towards her to the pair was able to brace each other. The stayed there for a couple more seconds as the shaking died away.

Both were breathing heavily and standing _very_ close to one another. Connor made an awkward smile before pulling himself away from such a position. Abby rubbed the back of her head where she had knocked it against the wall, but she didn't feel dizzy, so let out a heavy breath.

"What was that?" cried Connor, looking around for any clues. There was no evidence for the disturbance though, apart from the mess caused by it. The room still seemed stable and on a quick examination there didn't seem to be any cracks in the wall.

"It felt like an earthquake," gasped Abby. "Or an explosion...?" Realisation dawned upon the pair. "Connor, give me your phone. Quickly!"

Connor hurried over to the blond, pulling out his phone from his trouser pocket.

"Why? Who are you going to call? You don't think Lester tried to blow up the ARC to get in?"

"I don't think so. This was much larger than he'd need. I need to call Matt." She pressed a few buttons on the phone and held it up to her ear. "Think about which direction you were thrown." Connor looked down the lab, then peered in the opposite way. He frowned, before the idea hit him.

"It came from where Becker and Matt were." Abby nodded. "But if it was that strong here..."

Abby grim face told him everything he needed to know.

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><p>"Jess? Jess!" shouted Lester. He scrambled to his feet. All around him, there were sirens and people screaming and car alarms – always there were stupid car alarms. As if anyone was actually trying to break into them all at once.<p>

The civil servant pulled himself to his feet and lurched sideways as the noise in his ears affected his balance. He grabbed a wall that was still solid (how was it still solid?) and steadied himself. He looked around. Bile rose in his throat as he saw Simons lying in front of him, a chunk of building debris protruding out of him.

He was dead.

Lester's head swam. He glanced up at the ARC. It wasn't as badly damaged as he thought it would be. The side closest to them had a hole blown in it at about the... third floor. Everything directly above was now scattered below, decorating the streets. The second floor hadn't fared well either, but the first was mostly intact. The surrounding rooms were gone, and the glass on the entire side was shattered, but about three quarters on the building seemed to have escaped further damaged.

Maybe there was hope that Abby, Connor, Matt and Becker had survived. That they were well away from the source. Then again, something needs to have triggered it and there were only them and the creatures.

"Jess!" Lester shouted again, tearing himself away from such terrible thoughts. He spotted the brightly coloured figure through the dust. How could anyone not spot her? He'd often disliked the garish combinations, but now he was determined to never criticise them again; they were like high-vis jackets.

Struggling through the materials, he grabbed hold of her arm and turned her to face him. There were tears tracks running down her face, clearing the dust away in neat lines. She was breathing heavily and there was blood trickling from scratches. Her skirt was ripped right up and Lester quickly slipped of his dinner jacket to cover her up a little.

"What happened?" she sobbed eventually.

"An explosion, I think," explained Lester, looking back at the ARC. "Come on. We'd best get you to an ambulance."

"But Becker..."

"Jess," warned Lester. "You're in shock. Besides..." he sighed, "... I don't think we're going to have such a problem getting in now."

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><p>Matt groaned and opened his eyes. At least, he thought he opened his eyes. It was still black. Maybe he'd just imagined he had. He <em>imagined <em>that he closed them again, to open them. Nope, they were definitely open. It was black around him.

He reached into his pocket with ease and pulled out his trusty torch, which he always had on him for call-outs. Pressing the switch the space was suddenly illuminated with a blinding glare. Matt shut his eyes tightly closed, then slowly – oh so slowly – opened them, giving them time to adjust.

Becker was staring at him, his skin glistening with sweat. His hand was caught where the top and bottom of the passageway behind them had decided to meet. Matt looked ahead, to where they had been going when... what had happened? Whatever had happened had caused concrete and brickwork to pierce through the thin metal tunnel with ease.

Something large then. Or, at least, close by.

"An explosion," said Becker, suddenly, breaking the silence, which _sounded_ deadly. "Not large, but powerful and near-by." He breathed out in pain. "We're lucky to be alive."

Matt frowned, a slight headache pounding in his skull. He vaguely remembered a loud bang. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Instead, it felt like there was a sea sloshing about in there. Concentrate. He needed something to concentrate on.

Becker gasped out again as he tugged his hand in a desperate bid to be free. Desperate. Something about that didn't match up with Becker. But then, Matt wasn't quite thinking straight still; maybe it was just the crack on his head which was really starting to burn.

"Here, let me help," offered Matt, shifting over towards his friend. There were a few creaks and for a moment neither man even dared to breath, but the sound died away and there was no further stirring from the metal around them; they were stable, at least.

Easing over more cautiously, Matt took his torch and shone it on Becker's hand. It was wedged between the two pieces of metal firmly, but, with a bit of bending and denting, Matt reckoned it would be possible to get it out without bringing everything down on top of them. Hopefully. If he was being honest with himself, he knew he was only acting on a rough judgement that stemmed from the acknowledgement there was nothing else to do other than free Becker.

"Come on. I just need to..." Matt gasped as he pushed the thin metal upwards just enough so Becker could bend at his knuckles. Part of Matt's mind was worrying about how easily he was able the mould the malleable metal, the only material protecting them, but the rest ignored this concern and concentrated upon the job in hand.

Becker cried out in pain as Matt bent the next bit. Matt moved the torch to provide better illumination and found that as he tried to peel away the next part, the metal warped and dug into Becker's hand more. He sighed and shone the torch back at where he had been almost crushed only a couple of minutes before. Once more, he was acting in hope.

Hope seemed to pay off as he saw what he was looking for. A piece of metal had been torn away from the roof and was lying, unattached, on the floor. Grabbing it, Matt quickly slipped the piece on top of Becker's hand and used it as a larger lever, allowing Becker to free himself. After a little wriggling and a few choice swear words, Becker was cradling his hand to his chest, a trickle of blood being the only reminder of what had happened to it.

"There you are, mate," said Matt, smiling and slumping down. Becker looked up, a hunted look on his face. Matt frowned and sat up properly. "What's up?" Becker was sweating worse, his breathing was noticeably heavy and irregular, and his eyes weren't actually trained on Matt, instead darting about constantly as if there was a predator around.

"Haven't you noticed?" gasped Becker, hurriedly.

"Noticed what?"

"The walls are closing in."

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><p><strong>Please please review. It would mean a lot to know people were still interested after such a long break.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6 : Answers and Secrets

**Hello. I've not forgotten you, but I've just done English coursework, so as you can probably guess, the last thing I wanted to do when I had a break from typing an essay is to sit down and do some more typing. Apologies extend to anyone and everyone who has messaged/reviewed in past couple of weeks; I didn't mean to ignore you!**

**Anyway, the next chapter is here now. A lot of decisions and business in this chapter and lots of Becker =-) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Or **_**any**_** time.**

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><p>Matt glanced around hurriedly, but could see no reason for this comment. He gingerly touched the sides of the area they were being contained in, in case the blow to his head was playing tricks with his eyes, but felt no shifting at all in them. All was still.<p>

Looking back over to Becker, Matt studied the Captain carefully, this time taking note of all the abnormalities of his behaviour and demeanour as a whole. Becker just stared back as if his leader was an idiot for concentrating on him when they were in so much peril. Silence reigned between the pair for a minute.

Suddenly, Becker's phone rang, making both men jumped in surprise. Pulling out, Becker went to answer it, but Matt held out his hand.

"I think I should handle whoever this is, while you calm down a little."

I _am_ calm," insisted Becker. A bead of moisture rolled off his face and dripped onto his matt black uniform which he wore at all times.

"Becker, you are a state. Just check your reflection in the steel around and you'll see I'm right. Please. Hand me the phone. I don't want gabbled messages from you worrying them," pleaded Matt, ruthlessly using one of Becker's weaknesses against him; yeah, he may not care if it's just him affected, but he'll protect others, mentally as well as physically at all times.

The phone exchanged hands and Becker immediately toppled backwards, and stared at his reflection. He rubbed the liquid from his face with his top and slowed his breathing down._ Not now, please not now._

"Hello? Connor?" answered Matt.

"Oh thank goodness you're alive!" replied Abby. "Is Becker with you? Is he Ok? Where are you? Do you know what caused the explosion? Are you out yet? Are you Ok?"

"Yes. Not really. In a vent about halfway to the menagerie from Lester's office. No. No. I think so. Anything else?" Matt hurried through the questions as fast as he could, hoping they could settle down into a conversation soon to establish what was going on.

"What was the first question I asked you?" came the embarrassed voice. Matt sighed.

"Look, Abby. Listen carefully. That explosion was almost certainly internal and came from close to where we are. If you didn't cause the explosion and we didn't cause it, it's likely the dinosaur did meaning..." There was a pause as Matt let the conclusion sink in. "That's not a definite, mind, but it's an assumption I'm willing to take. So now, we need to get to the ADD and lift the lockdown. How damaged is the ARC where you are?"

"We just felt it, but I don't think it's done any structural damage. It sounds easy enough. Easier than our task before."

"You'll have to take the long route around, via the plant labs. I've no idea how stable the building is over here. We're trapped..."

"You're trapped? You said you're alright, though?" interrupted Abby.

Matt closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his head-ache, to see how bad it really was. The thumping was subsiding a little and Abby's voice wasn't painful, but it still hurt terribly. He glanced across at Becker. The usually unflappable man was pressed into the corner and seemed oblivious to everything around him.

"I'm fine. Fine enough. It's Becker I'm worried about. It's like he's lost his mind."

"You're fine _enough_?" questioned Abby. Matt sighed in frustration about the woman's abilities to pick up on the minor issue, rather than addressing the greater one. Becker was getting paler.

"Abby! I need to get Becker to medical attention and soon! He hit his head earlier. I think it's caught up!" cried Matt, feeling useless in his present predicament. He ran his hand through his hair.

"No, it's not," stated Becker suddenly. Matt looked up sharply and frowned as Becker stared back at him, while ignoring Abby's response. "I wish it was."

"What's that supposed to mean?" But Becker just retreated back into himself and Matt breathed out gently, a wave of nausea flooding him momentarily, and he grabbed at the side of the box they were trapped in as it seems to sway. The sensation only lasted a few seconds, but it brought home the fact that, as much as Matt might try to put on a brave face, neither of them were actually up to doing anything.

"Abby, please," whispered Matt, not paying any attention of whether he was interrupting Abby or not. "Get to the ADD. Lift the lockdown. We can't get out; that's a fact. So, you'll have to get help." He closed the phone, hanging up, before he could pulled himself over to look after the dazed Captain.

* * *

><p>Abby heard the tone and snapped the phone shut in annoyance. The situation was bad, otherwise Matt would have been straighter with her. The idiot! As if she wouldn't realise and worry over them anyway.<p>

She turned to Connor, who was watching her apprehensively, not knowing if Abby was going to happy or angry from the conversation.

"We need to get to the ADD," she ordered. "Leave that stuff. We probably don't need it now and it will only slow us up." Connor obeyed, without question, knowing Abby's judgement was sound enough to do so.

The ceiling with the vent was as high as it had been in the corridor, but this time they had an array of chair to stand on and, more importantly, no Rex, so the pair was soon up. Connor turned to go back up the way they came, the shortest way to the ARC, but Abby tugged his sleeve, shaking her head.

"Where Matt and Becker are is no longer stable. We need to skirt around the long way."

Connor sighed. "This day's getting easier and easier then," he quipped. He twisted around and started to scramble back the other way, crossing over Abby as he did. He shuffled forwards a few paces before he checked over his shoulder for his girlfriend. She was staring fondly back at him, before giggling at his puzzled look.

"Come on, we need to get going," she said eventually and passed Connor as he tried to sort out what had just happened.

* * *

><p>Lester passed Jess into the care of a medic before turning back to the ruins of the ARC. 'Please,' he prayed silently. 'Please, don't let us be pulling out corpses.'<p>

He then saw the one sight he didn't want to see. A large, black car was pulling up to the line of police that were quickly gathering in the area; the explosion would have been heard for miles. After a few words exchanged through the open window, the men parted, allowing the car access to the chaos. It didn't come much further though, instead parking up before it ran the risk of flattening the injured.

Lester automatically went to straighten his jacket, then recalled he'd given it to Jess; he hoped he got it back as it was his best suit, but then again, it was probably ruined beyond any repair respectable for an international conference. The door to the car opened and Philip glided out, buttoning up his own suit jacket as he went. Oh, the subliminal battles of power that the eccentric scientists all failed to understand!

A limping soldier suddenly collided with Lester, turning him. Lester acted quickly, preoccupying himself with helping the man to buy himself some time to create some excuse to the man who provided the funding. Unfortunately for him, the ambulance service was dealing with the emergency situation far too well for any journalist to make complaint over and the soldier was taken out of Lester's hands before any thoughts could begin.

Any hope that his current state would mask him was lost as Phillip made eye contact with him, just for a split second.

Lester fought the urge to dust off his shirt so he could at least claim he was quite busy. Which he was. The fact he didn't know what he was busy doing was just a slight set-back. And Phillip would understand had to come before communicating with him. Wouldn't he?

"James, I believe you have my number?" Perhaps not. Lester didn't respond immediately, which Philip took as a sign he could continue. "I don't expect every toilet paper order to be run by me, but this...?"

"Well, I wished to assess the situation before wasting your time. You know how Jess can be very reactionary. Didn't want to drag you down here just for what could have been a door being jammed."

Phillip nodded in agreement a couple of times, looking around at the general chaos which surrounded the two men. Lester knew better than to think he'd gotten away with this.

"I think this is more than a door jamming. Besides, it was obviously more important than that function you were at. I thought the Home Secretary was going to be there, along with a couple of other people who aren't readily available. You know, if you had called me, you could've stayed. Goodness knows, I haven't had a very busy night."

Lester opened his mouth to reply when suddenly a shout went up by the buildings.

"Best see what that's about," said Lester, who went to push past. Burton grabbed his arm with a grimace.

"I will speak to you tomorrow." He glanced at the building. "In whatever office you have left." Releasing the civil servant, Phillip surveyed everything one last time, before returning to his car, which he got into and started tapping out plans on his PDA.

Lester watched for a second, before remembering that he was, at the moment, in charge of all field operations as well.

* * *

><p>"Matt, get off. I'm not..." Becker's breathing quickened slightly again.<p>

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." soothed Matt, rubbing the Captain's back. "The ceiling seemed to... slip again?"

"It's getting lower."

It's not. I've checked; it's secure. We are safe. Possibly the only place in a five mile radius that is." Becker breathing steadied once more, but Matt didn't hold out hope of it lasting; exactly the same thing had happened five times in the last ten minutes. "Now, will you please allow me to check for concussion properly?"

"I don't have concussion," insisted Becker, like a sulky teenager. Matt poked at a small lump that was forming on Becker's forehead, causing the Captain to hiss in mild pain. "Ok. Concussion is not causing the walls to close and ceiling to lurch and the floor to rise and..."

"Becker! Stop it!" Matt waited for him to calm again, gripping him tightly as he did. After about a minute, he continued. "Why are you so sure it's not concussion? It's like you knew something was wrong before we went in here."

"I did. It's fine..."

"It's not fine!" shouted Matt, losing his temper briefly. The loud noise echoed around the metal pipe and Becker seemed to shudder with it. "You need to tell me what's wrong, because, like it or not, I'm stuck here with you, so you will tell me what's happening."

"I'm 26." Matt felt like he could've cried in exasperation at the stupid response; instead, he disguised it as a jagged sigh. "No, don't sigh. It's relevant." Matt bit his tongue to hold back his reply. "I'm 26, a Captain and not in bad shape and yet... and yet I'm not in the Army."

"And that's relevant to you not wanting to be an enclosed... oh." Becker rubbed his hand hard across his face as he didn't meet Matt's gaze. Matt leaned back and looked around at the small space they were in. "You're claustrophobic."

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><p><strong>Becker admits a weakness *gasp* Hope this was worth the wait.<strong>

**Please please review.**


	7. Chapter 7 : The Reasons behind the Truth

**Hello. Back with a new chapter. A lot of conversations and a lot of Becker, but also some heavier material. I couldn't think of a better way which suited Becker for him to get claustrophobia. I hope it's Ok; I've tried to balance it out with Abby and Connor somewhat. **

**I think this story is drawing to a close; I'm hoping to get it done by the end of this month, though please don't hold me to that. In the meantime, though, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. According to the voices in my head. And they are generally right ;-)**

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><p>"Claustrophobic..." The implications ran through Matt's mind like lightning; every little hint, every gesture, every facial expression that he could remember Becker ever having displayed sprinted through his brain, being reanalysed. Certain things made sense. Others didn't.<p>

"Don't laugh," snapped Becker suddenly. Matt shot him a sidelong look as if to say 'Really?' "The only other person who has found out since I was in the army thought it was hilarious and proceeded to spread the hilarity all around that work place. I had to leave."

Matt grasped Becker's knee in what he hoped was a reassuring and friendly act. Instead, Becker flinched slightly and Matt remembered that Becker wasn't big on the PDA thing; only Jess could break that side of him. He removed his hand.

"I won't tell a sole," promised Matt, looking deep into the Captain's eyes. The statement was acknowledged by a curt nod and a trace of a thankful smile, until the man just returned to staring ahead.

The cave lapsed into silence for a couple of minutes until Matt started to notice Becker's breathing quicken again. Gingerly (he was beginning to suffer from pins and needles), Matt pulled himself around to calm Becker once more. Luckily, he wasn't really needed, as Becker, true to his usual manner, controlled his emotions yet again. However, it made him realised that he had to keep the other man preoccupied until help arrived.

Unfortunately, there was only one subject he could think to talk about.

"So… you've had this whole claustrophobic thing for a while?" He felt Becker tense up beside him slightly, but then relax again; this was nothing irregular, but simply Becker's way of dealing with personal questions. However, even he would have to recognize the lack of anything else to do. That didn't mean he had to be very forthcoming though.

"Four years."

"That's pretty precise. Something happen?" No response. "Four years… that was your army days, wasn't it?"

A sharp nod.

"You said it stopped you continuing?"

A sharp nod.

"Must've been something fairly big. Not like you to give up if you just got locked in a cupboard with a spider." Becker let out a sigh.

"I was worse. A room slightly smaller than Lester's office would set me off. Now, at least, it's practically manageable. It's only in situations like this where the walls… the walls are so close and the ceiling is…"

"Stop it. Come on. How come you got?" pressed Matt, desperate not have to display any more bromance towards the other man; it felt wrong for the pair of them to have be having such heart-to-hearts.

Becker took a deep breath in as he steadied himself enough to continue. He had to admit, this was helping. However, awkward it felt.

"An idiot happened."

"Don't they always," smiled Matt.

"We were out on patrol, when we stopped in a cave to have a break. I was trying to set up the equipment to provide a status report. Someone decided to have a play around with the ammo we'd taken with us; we were meant to drop it off at another sub-base. Anyway, he flicked it too close to one of the cookers that someone had lit to boil the water to make it safer." Becker took a ragged breath. Matt withheld the urge to interrupt. "So, you can guess what happened. Half the ceiling, half the patrol. Gone. And then the rest of us, there was 10 by then, were trapped.

"No-one knew where we were. So, we had to wait. Not knowing. And then bright spark tried to clear a pathway, no matter how much I tried to stop him. So, that left 7 of us, once the dust had cleared. And the walls kept creaking as if it was about to give in. Any minute. It was two and a half days of tension." Becker paused as he remembered.

"But you got out? If you got out of there, you surely know you can get out of anywhere? Right?" joked Matt weakly.

"Out was almost as bad. It was joke. They made me a Captain because 'of the way I took charge'. Three people died with me in charge." And I couldn't deal with rooms…" Becker sighed. He realized Matt was watching him intently. The team leader smiled as caringly as he could. Becker didn't return the emotion. Instead, he buried his head in his knees.

Matt automatically went to put his hand on the Captain's back, but restrained himself.

"Something wrong?"

There was a pause as Becker considered whether Matt should receive an honest answer. He eventually concluded his self-esteem couldn't get much lower.

"Feeling nauseous," he replied. Matt couldn't hold back a thin smile at this.

"Anyone else would say 'sick', but not you, oh no," he said lightheartedly, before returning to comfort. "Don't worry. They know where we are. Connor and Abby will rescue us."

"Oh," said Becker solemnly. "Now, I feel reassured."

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><p>"We should be right overhead now," said Abby. Connor kept crawling until he reached the next grill and peered down. Sure enough, the ADD lay beneath, a couple of the emergency screens, which ran off a separate power supply, cast a greeny blue glow across the room, another change brought in by Burton after the Rex fiasco.<p>

Using a screwdriver he'd brought specially, Connor set about opening the mesh, while Abby oversaw his work. She was actually fairly impressed – Connor had shown remarkable foresight in his decisions and was acting, dare she say it, very maturely.

Even now, there was little time to contemplate these thoughts as he efficiently removed the grill and placed it to one side, before lowering himself down onto the floor below. Abby slipped down after him.

"Right. We need to lift the lockdown and do it the quickest way possible. You remember the codes?"  
>"Ye," replied Connor immediately. He then paused for a second in deep thought. "I think." Well, it wouldn't be Connor if everything was that organized. Abby snapped round at him, but he ignored her and started typing furiously. A few windows popped up, but Connor shut them down before Abby had a chance to read them.<p>

"So, this system works?" asked Abby tentatively, peering over her boyfriend's shoulder; it was quite a feat, standing on her tip-toes and then tugging herself up a little further by grabbing his forearm. He didn't mind this contact, but concentrated upon sending reels of texts and coding off.

"I designed it, didn't I?"

"And you've tested it?"

"Yes." Abby raised her eyebrow, but Connor couldn't see the expression. Suddenly, three open windows shut down. "No, no, no! Come back!"

"What's happened?"

"The first thing it shuts down when I tell it to shut the lockdown down is the programme that's shutting it down."

Abby took a second it sort out the sentence; she knew better than to needlessly interrupt Connor while he was actually doing work.

"I thought you said you'd tested this. Surely you check this."

"I have tested this… on my laptop."

Abby let go of Connor. "Not since you uploaded it to the ARC?"

"Not as such." Abby let out a huff. "Well, I didn't think there was much point considering I'd then have to run all the tests again after I inputted people's codes, which I couldn't do, according to Phillip, until after I'd presented the system to them."

Abby strode across the area to stop herself from hitting her boyfriend. She ran her hand through her hair, though, and came to the decision that it didn't help when it painfully caught in her hairband. Finally, she returned to Connor and reached into his pocket.

"Oi! What do…?" Connor squirmed until Abby finally came away, clutching his mobile, which was still the only device which could contact anyone or anything within the lockdown.

"Going to check up on Becker. Matt was really worried about him last time I heard," she said, by way of an explanation. Connor stared after her for a moment, as if he was worried she'd break his precious mobile. Reassured, he returned to his screen, but listening in; no-one could say he wasn't concerned about the Captain.

"Hello? Matt, how are things?... That's a relief…" That sounded good, surely? "Do you know what's wrong?... What is it?... Matt, I'm not a child, you can… Then what is it?... You're making it sound like you two are having the equivalent of 'female problems'… Let's not leave it at that!... Why not? I'm the person who's probably going to have to come and rescue you… Why can't I know?... I am _not_ whining!... Fine, well if you're not going to be honest with me, then there's no reason for me to be phoning you… Why should I tell you what's going on with us if you won't reciprocate… We're in the ADD room now. Connor's just trying to lift the lockdown…" There was a sudden rapid beeping for the computer. "Trying being the optimum word, I fear."

"Hey! I'm almost there."

"Did you hear that?... No, I'm not sure you should believe him." Connor sighed sharply. "As soon as we're done, you should be out within half an hour… Yeah… Ok, I'll see you then… Becker's problem, or whatever it is, won't affect a rescue. We may have to squeeze you guys through small gap… Matt… you still there?... That was not a stupid question!... Look, it's clear we're not getting anywhere, so I'll see you later… Bye."

Abby listened to the tone for a couple of seconds before cutting the call. Connor purposely concentrated extra hard on the screen, in case some of Abby's anger at Matt rebounded back at him.

The ploy worked and although Abby looked to Connor, contemplating talking, and possibly shouting, at her boyfriend, but ultimately she decided that wouldn't be the most helpful thing for her to do. Instead, she sat in Jess' chair and glanced around, but found there wasn't really anything to do. She hated feeling this helpless.

She glanced back at the object still in her hand.

"Connor?"

"Hmmm?" replied Connor, finally getting the coding to line up properly.

"Can this phone outside?"

"You mean to people not within the lockdown? Not yet. The problem in if I open up the signal too much anyone in the ARC could transmit information out."

"Right. So we can't find out what's happening outside? I'm beginning to find several flaws in this lockdown."

"Becker was going to perform some dry runs. I thought anything like this would be revealed then!" argued Connor, starting to be a bit frustrated at Abby's criticism of a system that took him a lot of time to design.

"You said you'd checked things."

"On my laptop! I can't run real scenarios through it." Abby slumped back in the seat, tossing the phone down on the desk. Connor shot Abby a warning look as soon as he heard the clunk. Abby sheepishly looked back, knowing how protective Connor was over his technology.

The computer beep again and so he returned to his screen to watch the loading bar inch towards opening up the ARC.

* * *

><p>"What is it?" shouted Lester above the uproar that surrounded him.<p>

A soldier gestured upwards with his gun, into the wreckage on the main entrance corridor. Lester peered up into the gloom, which was illuminated by flashing blue lights. He could just make out two eyes staring back at him. For a moment, a fear gripped him, until he looked more carefully. It was a dinosaur. More precisely, it was the dinosaur that had been brought in only a couple of hours before.

Lester turned to the soldier, who was waiting for some kind of orders. It was at times like these Lester really missed Jenny.

"Make sure no-one from the public gets close. Guard this…" Lester looked up at the gash that was the impromptu entrance to the ARC. "…this. I'll organise a rescue team once some more of our own men arrive, but I can't let anyone else see this."

"Sir."

Lester was just about to continue, when there was a buzzing and one of the fallen lights flickered uncertainly, before finally staying on, spreading light through the gloom. At the same time, the proper main entrance, which was still whole and seemingly unharmed, clicked and the key-pass machine burst into life.

The lockdown had been lifted, but who knew what lay within.

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><p><strong>Please review. =-)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8 : Red, Orange and Black

**I'm gonna finish by the end of the month... well that worked! **

**Ok, I'm definitely nearing the end... it's just taking me longer than I expected, due to so many things I won't bore you with them. Anyway, I am still determined to finish this story, even if only three people are reading it... I hope there are more though. ;-) **

**Anyway, rather than babbling on, I'll just let you read this chapter now =-) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. If I did, I would have been fired from it by now.**

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><p>"That's it!" cried Abby in celebration, as the lights came flickering on and the door shutters slid open. All around them there were the noises associated with an entire building springing back into life. "Connor, you're a genius!"<p>

"I kn..." Connor was cut off by Abby excitedly kissing her boyfriend. The couple stayed in an embrace for a few seconds, before Abby pulled back, smiling.

The smile quickly died down into what Connor knew was Abby business face and he obligingly let her go when she pulled further away, collecting up the bits of equipment they had brought with them.

"Are we taking that?"" questioned Connor as the woman loaded herself up with the stuff.

"Yes. Firstly, in case the lockdown initiates again..."

"So much faith in my work," said Connor sarcastically to himself.

"...Secondly," continued Abby, not hearing him, "we don't know exactly what trouble Matt and Becker are in. We may still need to release them."

Connor conceded that he couldn't argue with that and obediently took the pack of tools that was thrust towards him. He stuffed them into his pocket and then turned back to the screen that he had left. He studied the monitor for a couple of seconds, frowning.

"Abby!" he called. Abby looked up from her final packing. Connor nodded towards the plan on the screen, which was flashing red and orange in various sections. "Matt and Becker are in there?"

"I don't know," murmured Abby. "But they're alive. We know that much. What's the orange?"

"Heavy damage, but I think we'd still have a chance of getting at them. It's just if they're in the red..." Connor pressed a few buttons and the picture zoomed out, revealing a 3-D representation of the ARC, every section and area sketched out as if on the building plan. He swung the image around and gasped.

""What is it? What's wrong?"

"You see that black area?" Abby nodded. "That where the ARC isn't."

"Isn't? Well, take it back around..."

"No, no, you don't understand it should be there. It's just... not there any longer." Abby gaped at the revelation. The blast was a lot worse than either of them had thought. And there were still two people to be rescued from there.

Abby took a deep breath in and pulled away from the monitor. She put her hand to her head and then, remembering the pain of the action before, lowered it again.

"Ok, where were Matt and Becker when the lockdown first happened?"

Connor tapped a few keys, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth in concentration. The picture twisted and then zoomed in on one floor.

"Is that it? They were outside Lester's office, weren't they? And I think that the room... there. Which makes sense 'cos they were getting into one of the higher vent shafts which is that one there." Connor leaned back to allow Abby to see. The blond peered at the small area, still intact, then bit her lip. It was incredibly close to a mass of colour and the awful black patch.

"They took a while to get up into it. So they can't have got very far. And they were headed here? Or were they going to the menagerie?" Abby looked at Connor for confirmation.

He shook his head. "Makes no difference. If they hadn't got very far, then they'll have still been in this section... here." He enlarged a line which began pink, denoting it was a vent shaft, then went through orange, red, black, red and then orange before recovering into an ordinary pipe again.

Abby sighed. "They could be anywhere along there."

"Not in the black or red, I'd guess. Not if they're still alive."

"We need back-up," decided Abby. "There's no way we can enter that shaft safely alone."

"But where are we going to get back-up from?" asked Connor.

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><p>Lester counted up the men he had managed to gather together amid all the chaos and gritted his teeth in frustration. Ideally, he'd have liked to have sent in a team of at least fifteen, but having had a quick inspection he knew that he couldn't leave less than ten men holding back any prying eyes and curious police detectives who couldn't wait for the official, if slightly less than honest, report to land on their desk next week.<p>

So that left eleven able-bodied men to enter the ARC. Including him. Well, this suit was ruined enough to never have to face an important function and he could pack a punch when required. Besides, it prevented any more awkward conversations with Phillip until he could sort out a proper story in his head.

"Right, Wainwright! You're in charge out here until a superior officer finally decides to turn up. Make sure nobody gets within a hundred foot of the... hole and prevent anyone seeing things they shouldn't."

"A normal day's job, sir," smiled Wainwright. Lester grimaced at the cheerful man; you could tell he had only turned up ten minutes _after_ the blast and was just taking this all in the stride of any soldier who worked at the ARC.

"If we aren't out within..." Lester checked down at his watch. "...an hour send in another rescue patrol. There should be some more men by then, but right now we can't wait; they're probably all caught up in this traffic. Who on Earth is driving around at two in the morning?" The civil servant muttered the last bit under his breath. This was starting to look like a 48 hour day.

"Sir, are you coming with us?" asked one of the soldiers chosen for the rescue group. He was younger than the rest, a new recruit who had never seen anyone other than the security forces in action and even then only in training.

"Yes," stated Lester, in a tone which allowed no room for argument. Someone needs to be able to get down a proper insurance claim," replied Lester, dryly.

The soldier frowned. "But surely we should be concentrating on rescuing people at this stage?" An older soldier beside him knocked the younger to grab his attention and then gave a small shake of the head as Lester breathed in and out deeply. Some humour just flew over other people's heads.

"Right," announced Lester, trying to continue as if nobody had interrupted. "Is everybody ready?" There was a general murmur of consent. "Good." Lester removed his pass from his pocket, where he always kept it and swiped it against the key pass machine.

It was a rather anti-climax after all the explosion and difficulties in gaining entry to the building, but, frankly, Lester had had almost enough excitement for the day and he was sure it wasn't going to end yet.

The machine beeped a couple of times and then lit up red. Lester suppressed the urge to hit the thing and swiped the pass again. This time the beeping was followed by a whirring, a green light, and then, eventually, a click of the door locks opening.

"Probably got damaged slightly," suggested Lyons, one of the soldiers, waiting behind.

"No," responded Lester. "It does that every other time I use the damn thing. It is, despite the meticulous programming and designing MI5 put into the thing, only a computer after all."

The civil servant pushed open the door as wide as it would go. The main entrance corridor was still more or less intact, the only sign of the destruction outside being a decorated tree pot scattered in many different directions all over the floor. Lester stepped around it; he wasn't a fan of it.

"Follow me and stay together. It shouldn't be dangerous, but this is the ARC and, well, need I say more?" whispered Lester. He heard somebody breathing in, as if to speak, but then just a quiet squeak of pain. So, someone was looking after the new kid...

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><p>Abby grunted as she slid down the lift shaft a short distance. The actual lift was silent and still beneath her, having not reached the beginning of its programming at 6am. Connor had suggested overriding this particular piece of coding, but in the end both decided it would take too long and there was no knowing which of Connor's triggers they might meet, signalling the start of the lockdown again.<p>

"One more floor," she called up to Connor, who was edging down slightly less fluidly above her. Grasping at a maintenance handle to one side, she was able to ease herself down a couple more feet and then, judging herself to be low enough, she jumped down onto the lift roof.

"What was that?" cried Connor at the accompanying thud.

"Only me. I'm going to try and get the roof open and then we'll be at the bottom." Abby crouched down and set about levering the panel up which would, hopefully allowing them down.

There was a gentle thump as Connor landed beside her and knelt down to see what she was doing.

"This is like a spy film," he grinned. Abby couldn't help but respond likewise. "Here, I'll unscrew these two screws and it should slide back."

"Then do it." Connor started to hum. "Without the Mission Impossible tune." Connor stopped humming. "Betcha glad we bought the kit now." Connor nodded in agreement.

"There." He sat back triumphantly. "Now just slide." Abby did so and found it was surprising easy. She wasted no time in lowering herself down the final seven foot, bending her knees as she landed. Connor took a moment to pack his now trusted screwdriver in his pocket and followed.

"Ok," he said. "We're near the front of the building. We should..."

"Shhh!" said Abby sharply. She paused for a few seconds "Listen..."

Connor pricked his ears, but couldn't hear anything against the silence until... yes, there was some noises. Coming this way. Footsteps. Heavy footsteps.

"Who could it be?" he whispered.

"We presumed the explosion was a dinosaur. What if it wasn't? What if those responsible are coming nearer...?"

Connor grabbed Abby gently and pressed her against the lift wall, hoping no-one in the approaching group would look left towards them. Abby tugged her boyfriend downwards and both settled into a crouching position.

A figure appeared, flanked by a number of other, all dressed in black. Abby smiled as soon as she saw them.

"Lester!"

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><p><strong>There's a big shiny new review button. So now there are no excuses. ;-)<strong>


	9. Chapter 9 : Climbing Practice

**Well, this was going to be the penultimate chapter... somehow I'm not so sure; these characters just get out of control too easily. I'm glad I'm not Lester trying to organise them. However, the end is in sight... I think. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Neither in this Universe or any parallel one.**

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><p>Matt and Becker had lapsed into pointless conversations. While this would have probably consisted of meaningless drivel about shoes, clothes and the latest goings-on in Hollywood if the pair had been female, the subject matter proved more elusive for the actual captives. Neither had a great interest in such things as football and the conversation of going to the pub afterwards lasted less than twenty seconds – the length of time it took Becker to point out it would be well gone closing time already and there was still no sign of rescue.<p>

Thus the challenge for Matt became the constant issue of thinking of a new topic of conversation every other minute. He tried cricket, international politics, the economic crisis... he even mistakenly asked about what Sarah had been like, which was met with a chilling stare he endeavoured to avoid again.

It took him half an hour to strike the jackpot and afterwards he kicked himself for not thinking of it before.

"Still, at least in this space we can use our EMDs."

The argument was still on-going when Matt noticed the whirring of electrical machinery below them.

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><p>"So you can't narrow it down anymore?" asked Lester as Connor explained (roughly) the area they thought Matt and Becker could be in.<p>

"Well, we know they have to be within five minutes crawl of your office. And we know they're conscious so they'll hear us and..."

"Whoa whoa whoa. They're both conscious," interrupted Lester. "You know this how exactly?"

"I phoned them and spoke to them," replied Connor, as if it was the stupidest question he'd heard all day.

"And the reason you can't phone them to find out where they think they are is...?" Lester left the question hanging as he raised an eyebrow at the pair's 'no comment'. "Right well..."

As if on cue, Connor's phone rang from inside his jacket pocket. Everyone stared at the young scientist who coughed awkwardly and pulled the device out his pocket. He pressed answer and out it on speaker phone, holding it out in the middle of the group.

"_Connor! We noticed the electricity is back on. Well done, mate!" _came Matt's voice. _"Where are you?"_

"They are both in the main corridor, along with me and a group of Becker's man... and one boy," said Lester, loudly. The young soldier behind him cringed backwards at the comment.

"We were just going to get support," explained Abby. "Look, do you have any clue where you might be trapped?"

"_Erm... I'll have to check with Becker... he's more experienced with the vent shafts..."_

"Probably all those sessions with Danny," muttered Lester. There was a pause and the sound of conversation happening away from the phone. The rescue waited impatiently.

"_He says at the North end of the C18 shaft."_

"Right," replied Lester. "And for those of us without a compass?" There was another pause and more muffled voices before Matt came back.

"_The end nearest to your office. We should be above... lab 6A right now... and Becker wants to know why it has an 'A', considering there's no lab 6B."_

Lester huffed and rolled his eyes. At least it sounded as if Becker was alright; when Abby was voiced her concerns, she was worried about the Captain's condition, though he did admit he was a little surprised Matt had been straight with her.

"Tell him I'll only let him take that one up with the management team responsible if he waits patiently for us to come and get him. No heroics. It may take us about half an hour or more to even reach you, what with the lifts still being down." Lester glanced at the shaft that Abby and Connor had just scaled down, grimacing at the image of him clambering up there.

"_Ok then. See you in a while."_

The phone clicked and produced the monotonous tone as Matt hung up. Connor pressed 'end call' and returned the instrument to his pocket. Lyons walked over to the lift shaft and examined the inside, making note of the all the hand-holds and foot-holds Abby and Connor had used.

"How many floors up do we have to go?" he asked.

"For those, only two," answered Abby. "But we'll come up a distance from them and, while the gap isn't between us and them, we'll still be plunging into some damaged areas. We may need equipment that we can't get up there."

"One thing at a time. We need to get up there and assess the path. Since we have no proper equipment readily available, we can't afford to bring in stuff just on the off chance of it being useful, particularly if it's going to be a bind to get it up there." Lyons looked at Lester. "You coming, sir?"

"Of course," stated Lester, as if there was no question.

"Right, well, we'll be climbing a shaft with no ladder, but from what I can tell, it's not impossible."

"OF course it's not impossible!" exclaimed Connor. "How do you think we go down? Come on. Follow me!" The scientist pushed past the soldier and hauled himself up onto the first set of rungs he could use. After that, he quickly eased himself up further, and Lyons, feeling slightly embarrassed, followed him directly.

Lester looked up. "Why don't we have a ladder? I swear there's some breakdown regulation that states we should." Several soldiers went past to start climbing.

"It was a security risk. You know, in case anyone decided to cut the power to stop us chasing them, they'd be stuck upstairs too."

Lester placed his hand on the first handhold. "Hardly impossible though is it?"

Abby smiled. "No. That's so we can follow them if they're already downstairs." Lester hauled himself up and out of sight and Abby, followed by the last two security men, pushed herself upwards.

* * *

><p>Reaching the second floor took about fifteen minutes, mainly because Connor kept on having to explain where was a good place to put a foot or hand. They all gathered at the top waiting for the last man (who turned out to be one Lester insisted upon calling a boy) to appear.<p>

"Which way now?" said Lester, straightening his shirt, which was going in the bin as soon as he got home. "Either we can take..." Lester peered down one corridor. "... the partially collapsed corridor or..." He glanced the other way. "... the fully collapsed corridor. I thought it shouldn't be too bad here?"

"It's still sustained minor damage. Almost everything on this floor will be suffering from possible structural weakness," said Connor, as he did a 360. He admitted that he was surprised by the extent of the damage, but he supposed that seeing as he was barely affected by the explosion when it happened, he was only prepared for a few shelves knocked over and a couple of burst pipes. Seems that the ARC was simply good at absorbing shockwaves.

Too good if you asked for Connor's opinion.

"This way," pointed Abby, down the 'partially collapsed corridor'. "Which is just as well since I think down the other way the floor stops."

"Stops?" whispered the youngest soldier, as if the building would fall to pieces from the vibrations of his voice. "Shouldn't we get professional help if the building is unsteady?"

Everyone turned slowly to stare at him. He gulped as he realised the reality. _They _were the shook her head and proceeded down the dusty corridor. One side had caved over, but at her height, she barely had to duck to get through. The men weren't so lucky.

"I have a feeling my hairdresser is going to be wondering what on Earth I have been doing when I see him next week."

"Oh come on Lester. Surely you're going to wash your hair sooner than that!" exclaimed Connor. The civil servant looked back at the younger man.

"I think I'm going to have to spend the next week in the shower to get all this dust and debris out. And at some point, I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of paperwork surrounding this whole thing!"

"Really? What gave you that idea?" said Abby. She pulled up. "Does anyone have any clue how far we've come down this corridor?" The labs, the numbers of which Abby was counting on to guide her to Matt and Becker, were under the collapsed half of the corridor and, with the lights destroyed and the glow from the end of the passage getting weaker, she was getting quite disorientated.

"Erm... I'd say about three labs further," guessed Lyons, less than confidently.

"Four and a half labs," came Lester's voice. "I know this place better than the back of my hand; I'll tell you when to stop."

Abby walked carefully another few metres and just spied, in the almost pitch black, a darker outline ahead.

"Anyone got a torch?" she called back. One was quickly produced (Becker liked to have his men equipped for all situations) and the blond woman shone it forward. A metal pipe crossed the gap and the debris was much lower at this point than where they'd come from.

"You could get through," stated Lyons. "And a couple of the smaller, slighter lads. The rest... it'll be a squeeze."

"Right. I'll go through, along with anyone else who can fit _easily_. We can just check the route, see how many people we will need." Lyons nodded in agreement.

Grasping the torch in her right hand, Abby stepped under the ceiling and slipped through the gap. Lyons was right; for her, it was the correct size, but for anyone larger it would be a challenge. She didn't wait for the person who was going to follow her, instead pressed through another couple of gaps, alternating sides of the corridor in a chicane, which were slightly larger.

Suddenly, she found herself with air to breath, so to speak. The corridor opened out into a foyer, the ceiling broken, but not fallen, as it had been. She glanced at the label on the lab to the right.

Lab 7B.

But that meant...

She looked back through the tight maze tunnel she had just come through. Lab 7A would be where the chicane was, which meant lab 6A would be...

She took in a lungful of cleaner air and plunged back into the maze she'd come from and straight into the youngest soldier.

"Hey! What gives?" he cried, obviously getting a little frustrated by everyone mocking him.

Abby rolled her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Stevens."

"Right, Stevens. About turn."

"In this space?"

"No. In a field in Somerset. Yes, in this space."

Grousing, Stevens backed, causing complaints from the man behind him, who was being pushed through by Connor and Lyons. A general yell went up at the chaos. Eventually, the commotion died down and the soldier was dragged though, which some nudging from Stevens' rear-end.

"ABBY! What's happening?" called Lester, down the tunnel.

"Shhh!" hushed Abby back. "Listen carefully."

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. The only sound was of a creaking from some distant brickwork. Lester sighed. Abby had definitely lost it.

Just as Connor opened his mouth, there was suddenly a new sound, thin and reedy within the compact and packed corridor.

"Is that...?" started Lyons.

"Yes," interrupted Connor, nodding excitedly. "That's Matt's voice!"

_Abby! Connor!_ The cry was louder this time.

"But..." began Lyons, but he was cut off again by Abby, peering through.

"This pipe!" she gasped. "It connects directly to where they are!"

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><p><strong>Please review. Please. Pretty please. =-)<strong>


	10. Chapter 10 : A Light Problem

**Hello! Sorry this chapter took so long, but I've been out the country. However, now I'm back and with a fair amount of free time... I think... at the moment.**

**Anyway, as I predicted, this story is going to overrun. But hey ho, that's life, Connor and dinosaurs. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Or any lasers... and before anyone says, I know laser is an acronym and should be in capitals, but it has evolved into its own word now, I think.**

* * *

><p>"OW!" cried Abby. "Quit pushing..." She stopped suddenly, mid-sentence and everyone froze around her, concerned something was wrong. Abby took a deep breath in before very slowly and purposely speaking again. "Stevens."<p>

"Yes, Ma'am. Miss. Maitland," stuttered the young soldier, naive, but not naive enough to miss the unmistakeable tine of trouble.

"Stevens, take your hand off there."

Stevens glanced down and noticed (to his horror) that in trying to help Abby into the pipe his hand had slipped down and was now effectively groping the blond's rear. He gulped and hurriedly removed himself so he was standing several feet back. Everyone around let out a huge sigh of relief they didn't know they had been holding.

"How much further do you think you can go?" asked Connor, eager to break the awkward silence. Abby twisted her body around before wriggling so she could speak to the men properly.

"I can't see. I need that torch. I think a fair distance further."

Lester produced the torch again, as if by magic, and Connor squatted it down to push it through to Abby, trying not to touch anything he shouldn't; he felt happier about doing it than another an though.

"Thanks," replied Abby, taking it. There was an echoic click and Abby let out an 'Aha!'. Suddenly, her feet disappeared up the pipe as if she was being sucked in.

"Abby! What's happening?" cried Lyons.

"What? Is something going on out there?" asked Abby, in a tone which suggested no problem at her end, just concern for the others.

"No, we were just concerned with the speed of your disappearance, as Connor let out n audible sigh of relief. "Please try to allow us to keep track of you, just this once."

"Oh, I found a bar to pull myself along," she said casually, to which the rest of the soldiers breathed out an audible sigh of relief. "Look, I can go at least another ten yards, but then some debris must have crashed down of the pipe; it's completely crushed."

"Like a drink can," suggested Connor, who quickly stopped as soon as he saw the murderous stare that was being sent to him by Lyons.

There were a couple more echo-y grunts from the pipe, but none of the men took much notice of them having heard Abby's distinctly unladylike sounds in the pipe in the first place, although, like she asserted vehemently, it wasn't as if she was too big _or fat_ for the pipe, it was simply awkward and required bending her body in five different places in six different directions.

"We need to know how much further we need to go in order to reach Becker and Matt," stated Lyons. He bit his lip for a couple of seconds, before turning to Connor. "Have you got anything which could cut metal? Only needs to go through this thin stuff." He hit the pipe to make his point and the response was some choice swear-words from Abby. Lyons widened his eyes slightly and forwarded his apologies.

"Hold on one second," interjected Lester. "What on Earth are you planning on doing?" Lyons took a deep breath in as if he had to gather his patience when things weren't done as soon as the order was given, a state he was unused to.

"Debris is a sign of a ceiling. Given the distance it is, it's going to have to have happened well within the lab that Matt and Becker are in." Lyons approached Lester as he stated his case emphatically. "It may be as simple as cutting them out of the pipe."

Lyons looked pleadingly at Lester, who shifted his foot and folded his arms. The civil servant ran his tongue along his teeth and clicked a couple of times.

Taking a deep breath in, he grudgingly quizzed the soldier. "And the best way of going about it all is using some device of Connor's?"

"I do have some lasers I could modify pretty easily," muttered Connor, purely wanting to help without getting caught up in the politics of the situation. Lester threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Oh brilliant! And there was going to be lasers! A health and safety heaven!" he cried. "Why do you even have lasers anyway? I don't recall seeing any dinosaurs coming in with bits burnt off." He stared accusingly at Connor, who shuffled his feet nervously, but kept the gaze.

"They're left over from when I was trying to access the artefact. Never got thrown out."

"That was a light experiment."

"Yes, but the only place I could source single wavelength light from quickly was MI5. I just used then on their lowest..." Connor trailed off as Lester's face turned bright red and his fists clenched and unclenched slowly.

Lyons grabbed Connor's jacket and that of the closest soldier to him, which happened to be Stevens, and thrust the pair back down the darkened wreck of a corridor, a hasty 'Go, get them!' sounding in their ears. The pair, especially Connor, wasted no time in finding their balance and beating one of the fastest retreats history had ever seen.

"YOU GOT LASERS FROM MI5! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT DOES TO OUR REPUTATION? WE OWE THEM! THEY'LL WONDER WHAT WE'RE UP TO AND WE HAVE TO PAY RESPECTS TO THEM! YOU LOT THINK IT MEANS NOTHING BUT IT DOES, YOU'LL SEE. AND IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO GO CRAWLING TO MR SMART NOSE ON YOUR BEHALF YOU HAVE ANOTHER THOUGHT COMING TO YOUR B..."

"I swear the Head of MI5 owes you more after that 'Hill invasion incident'. I recall the bloke had to write a 'sappy, meaningless apology letter' to you," said Lyons.

Lester stopped mid-flow, opened his mouth a few times, before biting his lip in silence. He harrumphed and cleared his throat, a smouldering look in his eye. He stayed silent though, the ringing of his words still echoing around the metal that lay within twenty foot of them.

After a reasonable pause, Lyons breathed out gently as if his breathing may cause further upset. When it didn't, he started assessing how they could prepare for Connor's return.

"We need to phone Matt and make him aware of the plan. Then we need to select a suitable spot to cut... somehow," he eventually decided. "Abby can you come out for a minute?"

As people pushed past to help the petite female exit the pipe, where she had been sheltering from the noise outside, Lester muttered angrily "He's still going to pay after this."

* * *

><p>"Where are your lasers?" asked Stevens as the pair settled into a breathless jog following their initial rush.<p>

"They were in my lab, which is well away from... any of this. I'd been using them recently in my Prospero work."

"Great," said Stevens sarcastically. Connor looked at him quizzically. "Well, the reason it's away from the blast zone is, let's see, oh! it's on the ground floor. Couldn't we have picked it up while we were down there? Now we have to climb back down."

"Yeah, thanks mate, had realised. Look, I didn't know they were going to be needed. Here." Connor pulled to a halt at the lift shaft. "Let's face it, lasers aren't normally the most useful piece of kit."

"When _aren't_ lasers useful?" muttered Stevens, staring down the dark depths they had to climb down. If only they'd taken the torch; such a hasty exit had left them with little time to think of provisions.

Connor ignored this comment, but swung himself down. He was suddenly realising why he annoyed Lester, and irritated and exasperated many others. Stevens was the Connor to Connor. He was sure the young, naive soldier was going to stop at the drinks vending machine on the ground floor.

The break in conversation led to a lengthy silence as they clambered blindly, scrabbling for holds. Stevens especially was being careful, knowing if he fell, it was likely he'd take Connor down with him.

* * *

><p>Silence was also fallen in the pipe as Matt strained his ears to listen for the tell-tale signs of a rescue attempt. Becker was as far from any of the sides as he could get, but was trying to remain as quiet as he possibly could. Even in the dim light, Matt could see he was turning pale at the effort; the team leader hoped Abby, Connor and Lester came soon as he didn't want to try to assure the Captain again – that would be admitting he was still a problem.<p>

The ringtone startled both of them as Mat fumbled in his haste to answer the device. Becker simply looked at him.

"Hello... Yeah... Brilliant... Any idea how you're going to do that?... What!" Becker started at Matt's sudden surprise. Matt's response was to turn slightly away, so the Captain couldn't see any worry on his face, but he soon thought better of it, knowing Becker did not take kindly with being shut out of conversations.

Sure enough, Becker shifted forward anxiously and mouthed 'What's going on?' Matt held up his hand to prevent him from moving again while he hearing Abby out.

"Right," he said when she'd finished. "And it's safe?... Fair point... Ok, well I suppose we can do nothing be wait." Matt snapped the phone shut.

"What is it? What are they doing?" Matt breathed out and glanced at Becker; distracted, the Captain's colour was returning. Matt entertained the idea of not telling Becker what was happening, just to give him different to worry about, but quickly dismissed the thought as being a little too cruel.

"They're close. They think all they need to cut their way out of one pipe and then into this one."

Becker slumped back. "We don't have any metal cutting equipment on site. It'll be ages before they can reach us." Matt remained passive, which, on reflection, said more than any facial expression could. "What? What are they doing?"

"Connor has some lasers he's going to modify to cut the way out."

"WHAT!" Becker repeated Matt's surprise. He leant against the opposite wall as all the things that could go wrong when Connor and lasers mixed passed through his head. "We're going to die aren't we?" Matt's eyebrows shot to the ceiling. "Well, this may be my kind of worst nightmare, but at least I know this is an _irrational_ fear."

* * *

><p>"Don't touch <em>anything<em>," order Connor as he let Stevens into his private lab. Stevens gazed around the lab, an unimpressed expression gracing his face.

"Is this it?" Connor stood up from his cupboard sharply. "It's just an ordinary lab. The amount of fuss there is about you being here I thought it would have, you know, bubbling cauldrons full of poisonous chemicals and a bat hanging from the ceiling."

Connor gritted his teeth. "Yeah, I tried to out that stuff in, but Phillip said it was against health and safety." Stevens frowned at Connor's tone.

"Was that sarcastic?"

"Yes."

"Am I annoying you?"

"Little bit, mate, if I'm perfectly honest with you."

"Right, sorry." Connor acknowledged the apology and went back to searching through one of his cupboards. He should have listened to Phillip about one thing. 'Keep your lab tidy.'

Stevens lazily pushed a strange metal object round in a circle. He supposed he should be helping Connor, but he didn't know where to begin and frankly he worried he may not get out of the building alive if he damaged anything.

Connor's hand came down onto the object, stopping it from spinning. Stevens hopped back, wide-eyed. Connor got halfway through a sign before he recognised it as a sigh normally directed at him. He lifted his hand slowly.

"Phillip would go mad at me if that was broken." Stevens bit his lip bashfully. "Can you... can you grab that bunch of screwdrivers over there?" Connor put down four thin metal tubes, each attached to a small box.

"What are you gonna do?" asked Stevens, collecting the equipment. "I thought you were just going to... press some button and it would cut metal." Connor shook his head and pulled up a seat. "But you said that you just used them on their lowest setting? Not that they needed to be engineered."

"Exactly. I need to unscrew the box to get at the dial." Stevens raised his eyebrows as Connor did indeed start to take out one of the screws. "These are experimental lasers; not to be used in operations, or so the guy who gave them to me told me. The case is for safety."

Stevens baulked. "Seriously? You believed MI5 had to deal with health and safety?" He shook his head in bemusement.

"We chase dinosaurs to save the public and we have to deal with health and safety. There's nothing it doesn't touch." Connor adjusted the dial, twisting it round as far as it would go. Stevens watched in boredom, but Connor really didn't want to give him access to lasers. "Look, can you find something to carry this up in? But be careful!"

Stevens breathed in deeply. Somehow, being part of a dinosaur hunting team was getting dull.

* * *

><p>Abby tapped the side of the pipe with a metal pen. The corresponding clang was muted and deep. She groaned and pulled herself along a little further, then reached up again. The result was the same; so was the reaction.<p>

This time, the attempt was a high pitched ting which resonated. She tapped around the area, spiralling in circles until she had tested an area she knew she could get through. She smiled broadly.

"Lyons!" she called back.

"Yes," came the response.

"I've found where to cut. Perfect spot." She stared at the patch, memorising its position. "Now all we need to do is wait for Connor," she murmured.

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><p><strong>Please review. <strong>

**PS. Was it sensible to give Connor access to lasers? I'm wondering...**


	11. Chapter 11 : A Cutting Wait

**Hello! Ok, so you may think that there was a wait. Maybe, but I give you a bumper chapter! Yay! Ok, so I didn't want to break the action up this close to the end and so I just kept going, but hey! It's the last proper chapter, so why not? Probably going to be an epilogue of sorts after this and then the story is done. **

**In the meantime, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. If I thought I did, I'd never leave (check my profile to understand that one).**

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><p>"Done?"<p>

"Not yet." Stevens slumped down opposite the busy scientist, who was concentrating on placing the screws back in the final laser. The whole operation had almost taken ten minutes and if it took as long to get up as get down, they wouldn't be able to test them for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Stevens flattened the rucksack he'd found, smoothing all the creases. He'd been forbidden from rustling the paper packaging they were going to use to stop the equipment knocking about and breaking as they climbed up the shaft. Connor was starting to feel very old and responsible.

The screw pushed flat and Connor tapped it gently to check the screws were good. Satisfied, he started to sort out his screwdrivers.

"Right. Pack them up. We'll take the screwdrivers in case as well." Connor paused and looked around. "Oh, and these." He chucked two pairs of goggles at Stevens, who haphazardly caught them.

"Anything else? Your work bench maybe? We could winch it up," suggested Stevens sarcastically, as he tried to cram the paper and lasers in so they didn't stick out. Connor handed the screwdrivers over, giving a smirk as he did.

"Lester would tell you that only he is allowed to use sarcasm. Ready?"

"I'm carrying, am I?" grumbled Stevens as he hoisted the bag onto his back. He adjusted the straps slightly, but, if he was being honest, it's wasn't all that heavy.

"You're the soldier."

"You're the scientist who's always running around after dinosaurs. Ergo, you are fit enough."

"Yes, but I have no training in carrying backpacks. Health and safety mate," smiled Connor, as he exited his lab, eager to get back to Matt and Becker.

Stevens shifted the pack again. "I'll kill bloody Health and Safety."

* * *

><p>Matt lay his ear to the metal as Becker stared at him incredulously. Matt knocked the metal a few times with his phone.<p>

"I highly advise keeping that intact," sighed Becker. He shifted forward and tugged Matt off his upright kneeling perch. "They'll be able to see where there's a gap, which is probably more accurate than you punching the sides; that's surely something I should be doing."

"What if there is no gap. We could be buried in a small mountain of plaster and brick... sorry, wrong thing to say." Becker took a couple of deep breaths, in and out, slowly. This was partly to reduce the sense of fear, but also to gain some much needed patience. Ever since Abby last phoned, Matt was getting edgy, as his mind recognise that things were finally happening and that _he should be doing something to help too._

"Then they'll clear all of it away."

Matt shrugged and knelt back up again. He gazed at the blank piece of metal, then felt the solid surface. Eventually, he gave into temptation and placed his ear to the cold surface again, raising his hand in preparation.

"Matt!" cried Becker. "Stop it. In a minute, I'll have another panic attack just to spite you." Matt came down and sat in ponderous thought for a few minutes. Becker, meanwhile, tried to distract himself from the situation by listing everything that can go wrong when Connor and lasers mix. Strange what could be comforting in the right situation.

He had got as far as 'laser piercing an unknown gas chamber and causing another, more massive explosion' when Matt decided to vocalise his thoughts.

"I think there's a gap there." Becker rolled his eyes and returned to his mental list. He didn't get any further. "It should mean that they can get through fairly quickly, especially as it's only thin metal."

Becker hoped Matt was right.

* * *

><p>"So... how much longer will Connor be? Only some of us do have homes to get to. My wife must be thinking I'm doing the funky chicken blind dunk at the after party."<p>

"You've not phoned her?" asked Abby, sitting on the side of the pipe.

"Not yet. Didn't know what to say. I don't think 'a dinosaur may have caused an explosion at work' would really cut it. She'd probably think I was disguising an affair or something."

"Don't worry," replied Lyons. "She wouldn't think that." Lester looked round sharply in mock annoyance.

"If that's an insult, you realise I'm still your boss and can have you fired as I please." Lyons stared at his blankly.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't."

"Never underestimate me. I fought future creatures, knocked out cones and coped with Cutter." Lyons held up his hands in half-hearted surrender. Lester huffed gently and turned to check his watch, which, luckily, had escaped the proceedings of that evening so far with just a few surface scratches. He tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the second hand go by.

Abby suddenly sat up. Everyone twisted round to look at her, curiously. She concentrated into the distance for a couple of seconds, then smiled in relief.

"Abby..." began one of the soldiers, but he was hurriedly hushed by Lyons, who was also beginning to smile. It took everyone a little longer to finally hear the far off echoes of footsteps. Abby got up and moved a bit further down the corridor.

Connor ran straight into her, pushing her over and face-planting himself on the floor. Behind him, Stevens had just enough time to jump over the pile of bodies and pull up a few inches from Lester. He backed up sharply at being that close to civil servant and, in the process almost tripped over Abby, if Lester hadn't grabbed him back.

"Connor!" shouted Abby, pushing a leg off her. She quickly sat upright to face Connor who did likewise. He looked apprehensively at his girlfriend, whose face softened. "What took you so long?" Connor let out the breath he was holding.

"Had to get to my lab, you know, and prepare the lasers. Honestly, a little bit of gratitude..." He was cut off by Abby launching herself at him into a firm kiss. All of the soldiers turned away from the smushy scene, while Lester just folded his arms and tapped his foot until the kiss had ended.

"If you two have quite finished, maybe we can get on with actually saving people." Abby and Connor grinned widely and helped each other up.

"Yes. Come on, you best teach me how to use these." Connor face fell in disappointment. "No, you can't use them. I'm the only one who can fit in the pipe properly... and I know where to cut." Sighing, but admitting defeat, Connor gestured to Stevens, who heaved the bag off his back, groaning and producing the lasers. "Is that it?" questioned Abby, surprised.

"Oi! These have a lot of power to them, you know. Pierce concrete... maybe. I'll try later."

"Frankly, I'm rather please he's not in charge of them," whispered Lester to Lyons, who just nodded in agreement. They watched on absently as Connor showed Abby which buttons to press when. To think Lester had just assumed there'd be a 'fire', button. He was glad he couldn't fit in the pipe.

Abby eventually took a laser and shoved unceremoniously into her waistband. Another, she grabbed firmly in her hand and stepped into the opening in the pipe. Connor slipped his jacket off and passed it to her. She looked at it confused.

"You're going to be melting metal; it might drip and you're wearing a flimsy top." Abby took it gratefully and slipped it on. "Don't use it directly over your head."

"Kinda figured. Stevens, you can probably fit after me, but wait until I cut through and call to you. No point in you being cramped for longer than necessary." Stevens grumbled quietly about this not being his day.

Abby put on the goggles, which were twice as big as they needed to be, and squeezed in, now sure of where and when to bend. Stevens stood well back this time and let the other gently guide Abby's legs in. She eased in, grabbing the bar quickly to shift herself along. This time, no panic.

She slid up to the place she had found before, making sure her face wasn't directly under as suggested and brought her hand out. Cautiously, she switched on the laser, pressing all the buttons Connor had shown her.

There was a low hum and then a thin beam of blue light let the area. For a couple of seconds, there was no action and Abby's hopes fell. Then, a strand of smoke rose up and a scent of burning filled the air.

The hole produced was small, almost point, and Abby worried at the amount of time it would take. The hole grew to be about half an inch in diameter, but then stopped. Abby switched the laser off and removed her goggles to survey her work. She bit her lip, but noticed that, around the edge of the hole, a thin layer of liquid metal was gently cooling. Placing her goggles back, she tried again.

This time, she moved the laser up and down in a line. A glossy tone indicated molten metal, which quickly severed. A few drops of silvery orbs dripped onto Connor's jacket; Abby watched as it fizzed in a mini bubble, burning a hole. She silently thanked Connor for his foresight and made a mental memo to buy him a new one.

"How's it going?" called Lester.

"Should be out in five minutes," replied Abby, who moved onto work another stretch. She quickly had a line of about a metre in length arced over her body and moved on to start again, perpendicularly. This rhythm was set and she quickly worked to cut a square-ish shape in the pipe above her.

The final two lines eventually joined and Abby quickly pushed upwards as hard as she could. There was no movement. She pushed again, grunting with effort. There was a still creaking and she felt some warping, but as soon as she relaxed the metal plate settled back. Sighing, Abby shifted up. Her head bumped against the metal which marked the end of the passageway.

Pressing her shoulder against her ear, she contorted her neck allowing her to move her entire body up that little bit further; she started to wonder if those yoga lessons Jess had taken her to could actually be a good idea. Shuffling around, she judged that if this plan was going to work, it was going to work now.

She kicked the plate. Immediately, a corner bent up and she could see the door of the lab through the gap that had formed. She kicked again. The plate flew up, clattering against plaster and brick. Abby's trousers were powered with white dust which puffed up in a cloud at the disturbance. She relaxed her body, stretching out.

"Ow!" cried Stevens, as her foot came into contact with his nose. "Watch it!"

"I said wait 'til I called," said Abby angrily, looking along the pipe. She ducked down in order to sit up in the square hole and drew up her feet. She coughed a few times as the last dust settled.

"Yeah, 'cos it was my idea to get in now." He peered back. "Heard that? I was right, I didn't need to get in yet." Abby could just make out the ensuing argument and complaints that were happening at the other end of the pipe. She phased it out of her hearing as she looked around.

The room was... barely a room. The ceiling had completely collapsed in and there was a large hole in one of the walls. Consequently, there were gaping cracks which ran from one corner of the room to the others and Abby was sure there would be others which she couldn't see in the dim light; one of the bar lights lay smashed across what was supposed to be desk, but which was buried under a heap. Instead, the light came from another set of lights which was meant to be for the room above which now lacked a floor.

Looking around, Abby realised that this entire area was still not safe, but could fold in at any moment it seemed.

"Abby!" shouted Connor. "What's it like?"

"Devastated," she replied, tearing her eyes away from the glowing above. She took a deep breath in and set her mind to why she was here. Matt and Becker.

She twisted around to search for their vent shaft, but it wasn't clear. She stood, hoping the elevation would make the difference, but it didn't and her hopes fell at the prospect of finding the shaft in all this chaos; one wrong brick moved and there could be subsidence.

Stevens whistled as he stood up beside her. "So, where are they?" Abby shrugged. "Ok." Stevens paused for thought. "Right, where did they come in from?" Abby looked at him. "Well, we can..."

"No. I know why you're asking. It's just surprising you could come up with that. You're like Connor."

"In what way?"

"Useless at everything except it matters." Abby stepped out of the pipe carefully. "They came from Lester's office area, which is in that direction, so I think that means they must have come in a shaft which came across here." She narrowed her search in to a pile of rubble. Immediately, she spotted the exposed, recognisable silver of the vent shafts. She reached out and knocked.

"Come in," came a muffled voice, the relief audible through even the solid barrier.

"Matt?" cried Abby. "Are you OK? And Becker, how's he? Are either of you hurt? And be honest with me..."

"Erm... Abby," interrupted Stevens cautiously. Abby looked around and sensed that maybe he was right to. She climbed up onto the a few bricks, which moved underneath her feet sharply. Stevens put out his arm out reflexively and Abby caught hold of it before she fell onto the sharp debris below. She murmured her thanks.

She tried again, this time trying the bricks she put her foot on first, before putting her full weight on them. Once she was in more comfortable reach of the shaft, she dusted off an area and judged the area. She knocked right in the middle.

"Matt, I'm going to cut around here. Move right away from it." She glanced at the debris on it. About two foot along, a lab work bench, presumably from the room above, had squashed the shaft like, as Connor would say, a drinks can. "Try to push towards the end of the area you're trapped in." There was the sound of movement and a couple of bangs. "Matt?"

"Can you possibly be as quick as you can? I don't think... we can stay like this for long."

Abby frowned, but set to work.

Inside the pipe, Becker bit his lip as Abby started to make the first hole, testing the metal. As if things were pretty bad being trapped in a small cramped space, now he was forced to cower in one corner of it. Matt looked on, concerned, from the other end, unable to fit by Becker.

A line appeared in the metal around the area that Matt had predicted. Well, at least he was correct, even if there was no point in what he did. A few drops of molten metal fell and fizzed as they cooled rapidly and formed little balls attached to the floor. Becker pressed back further and felt even worse.

The second line began to appear and Becker was grateful to note that Abby had remembered that not everyone could fit through a hole as small as she could. He was also grateful that he had had to skip dinner.

At the third line, he was beginning to wish he had skipped lunch.

At the forth line, Matt could see Becker very well, the Captain's skin almost completely white against the darker interior. Becker had closed his eyes and was very slightly swaying. However, with the spitting metal between them, Matt didn't want to risk reaching across.

Suddenly, metal square crashed down between them, causing Matt to jump. He looked up to see Abby standing, smiling, with piece of brick in her hand, raised, having recoiled from the impact. The image of the blond was soon eclipsed by the back of the Captain, who instant reaction was to stand up in the new hole and lean over.

Matt waited as the sounds of retching had died down. Then, gingerly, he shifted into a crouching position.

"Abby, can you help Becker out?" he requested, when the Captain hadn't moved. There was some shuffling above and first one boot, then another disappeared. Matt hurriedly stood, narrowly missing his head on the edge of the fresh cut hole. He stepped out his prison, carefully avoiding the splat on the floor directly in front of the hole.

Abby stood with her arm around a rather dazed looking Becker, who obviously wasn't used to being the sick one. Matt could hardly blame him; Abby looked a little bemused by the whole situation. On seeing Matt was out, Abby gestured to a medium sized gap in a pipe lying on the floor.

"There's your exit. Bit tight, but I'm sure you're used to that now."

Becker groaned.

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><p><strong>Poor Becker. Please review, for his sake.<strong>


	12. Epilogue : Unboxed and Unlocked

**Hello. And so the story is finished. At points, I was wondering if it would, given all the stuff which has delayed it. Thank you to all who have stayed with me and reached the end. Means so much. Name checks at the end =-)**

**This epilogue, I think, is calm end, with a bit of Jecker thrown in because... well, there'd been hardly any! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Here or on the Moon.**

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><p>Phillip was waiting for them when they finally emerged. The sun was just beginning to rise, giving the sky an orange glow, and most of the crowds had dispersed, retiring to their beds before the world woke up for another day in the office in a few hours times. Lester thought fondly of his office which now lay, no doubt, in ruins. Still, the damage was only slightly worse than after the explosion Helen caused and they'd rebuilt it quickly enough then.<p>

Becker was walking independently besides the civil servant, with Connor next to him in case that situation changed. The Captain's clothes were ripped and damp, his hair dishevelled and his complexion generally pale. Lester had no idea what had happened, nor, he was sure, did he want to know. On being pulled from the pipe, which was a close fit for the Captain, he had sat shivering and gagging in a corner while the rest of the team pulled Matt, who seemed to be quicker than Becker even though Lester was positive he was burlier. On the other hand, Matt had mentioned Becker had a head injury from earlier so maybe that was it...

Lester had worked with this kind of team for long enough; he liked to think he could sense when he wasn't being told something. However, he trusted Matt and Becker enough to know when to withhold information.

Phillip started to approach the group and Lester settled the details in his mind of why he hadn't called; any reasonable man would accept Lester had been more than a little preoccupied, but Burton wasn't always reasonable.

Luckily, everyone's attention was grabbed by a shrill cry and a multi-coloured blur which landed on Becker.

"What happened? Are you OK? You don't look OK – you look pale. Do you have any injuries? The ambulances have all gone. Perhaps I should drive you to hospital. I mean, if you need to go. No obligation, of course, but I can take anyone else hurt too... you do look pale."

"Jess!" cried Lester, halting her tirade and saving Becker, who looked thoroughly bemused. "What are you doing here? You should be at the hospital."

Jess looked blank. "But how can help there?" Lester sighed exasperated, but his response was cut short by his mobile ringing. Pulling it out, Lester groaned and walked away to answer it. Phillip changed his course in accordance, but seeing how Lester was on the phone to either the Minister or his wife, he'd have a wait.

"Right. Well, I need to go and sort out the security of all this then," said Becker, glancing around at the scattering of black clothed men at certain strategic points. Matt and Abby shared a look before Matt accosted the Captain just as he was heading off and thrust him at Jess, who caught him as he stumbled.

"Oh no you're not, mate. Jess, take him home," the Irishman ordered. "He needs food and rest."

"I can't leave everything like this!" exclaimed Becker, gesturing wildly at the ARC. Lyons caught his superior's arm and lowered it.

"I'm sure we'll cope without you for one day. It'll probably still be in this state tomorrow." Becker opened his mouth, but Lyons cut across him. "With respect, sir, if you stay, I'll suggest to all the men to ignore your orders." Becker tried to speak again. "And then, maybe Banks will suggest it." Becker remained silent, the thought of facing the Sergeant, who would have all the men supporting him, swaying his decision – to be fair, Banks only interfered in stuff like this.

Eventually, Becker gave in to the faint tug of Jess, who led him away to her car, which had only suffered scratched paintwork. Matt smiled at the minor victory. Right up to moment Lyons spoke again.

"You're going too, sir."

"But..."

"If we get to your plants, we'll water them and place them in someone's garden shed. Otherwise, scoot!" The raised eyebrows brokered no argument and Matt had to admit he didn't know what he'd do and he was beginning to feel tired, the adrenaline wearing off. Without another word, he sloped off. Abby and Connor smiled sweetly and Lyons nodded for them to go too.

"Why can't we go home?" grumbled Stevens, who was picking pieces of dust his uniform. Lyons pinned him with a stare. Stevens didn't react, but continued picking.

"Because they got in for work at 9 o'clock yesterday morning, whereas you came in at 9 o'clock yesterday evening in response to an SOS."

"3 hours earlier than normal," muttered Stevens. "And I've had to climb up and down that lift twice as many times as you and running around after Connor and being shoved down narrow pipes and through small holes."

"Fine! Then go!"

Stevens tore his gaze from the dust and answered calmly and innocently: "No, I'm fine."

"Another more frustrated cry filled the air.

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><p>Becker groaned as he approached his door. Jess looked at him concerned and grabbed his arm in case he was about to keel over. She still didn't know what was wrong with him, but she took some comfort in the fact that his colour was returning.<p>

"I left my house key at the ARC in my locker." He reached out and pressed the doorbell before Jess could offer to take him back to her place. "Scott's not going to be happy," he said, leaning back. Jess' eyes widened.

"Oh right. So Scott? That would be your..." she searched for the correct word. Becker didn't seem to register the pause or the slight disappointed panic that appeared in her tone.

"Flatmate." Jess let out a minor sigh of relief which she tried to deny afterwards. Becker glanced round as if he thought he had heard something, but wasn't certain.

The door opened and revealed a man, hair sticking out everywhere and rubbing his eye, wearing only boxers. Jess kept her eyes up, while Becker's went awkwardly sideways. Scott let out a long groan and stepped back to allow Becker admittance; the Captain gently tugged Jess in.

"I have so many questions I don't want to have them answered right now," complained Scott as he slammed the door behind them. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I thought you didn't want answers," replied Becker, as he hung his jacket up. Scott waved away the technicality and turned to Jess, who was beginning to feel embarrassed.

"Where d'you pick her up then?"

"Scott!" exclaimed Becker, angrily. "She's a colleague who has given me a lift. Go back to bed!" Scott murmured an apology, shrugged and swung past Becker back up the stairs. "Sorry about him. Look, it's too late for you go back safely now; I dare say you were awake all the time we were trapped. You can use the guest room; it's always made up" Jess stared dumbfounded; this wasn't something she was expecting – hoping maybe, expecting no way.

"I can't..." she began, but Becker cut her off.

"Come on. If it makes you feel better, I do have a head injury and I don't think Scott will bother checking on me." Jess smiled, nodded and followed Becker up.

After showing Jess to the guestroom, Becker finally entered his room, breathing in the fresh air and lying down on his bed. There, he fell asleep, with the door wide open.

_The end._

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><p><strong>This is your last chance to say anything about the story... hint hint. Concrit is always welcome from anyone.<strong>

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><p><strong>A huge thanks go to everyone who has reviewed this including: <strong>

**Hilary Parker, 'Guest' [whoever you are =-) ], 'SolarLunar Rocks D' [great name btw ;-) ], RextheCoeulurosauruvus, Mijo54 (Merci), 'justreading' (thanks for not just reading, but reviewing too), LjonGlosoli, FLUFF-N-UTTER-1 and Rubytronix**

**Also massive thanks to everyone who has favourited and placed this on alerts**

**AbbieAwesome , Arscapi , artemis89, BrightBlues123, fledglingfeathers, FLUFF-N-UTTER-1, GracefulLikeAGazelle , Hilary Parker , LjonGlosoli, Mal4Inara , MercedesMiller, MichelleNicoleNatasha, Miss Lottie, PlantyPie, Rawwwwwr, runningawayfromthelight, XXbestfriend1XX, Future Forensic Goddess, Mijo54 (merci encore), The Smoking Gerbil Cloud and When the Wind Stands Fair.**


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